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History  of  the  church 


DIOCESE  OF  TENNESSEE 


BY  THE 

Rev.  ARTHUR   HOWARD  NOLL 

Historiographer  of  the  Diocese 

Corresponding  Member,  New  Jersey  Historical  Society 

y4uthor  of  ^'  Short  History  of  Mexico,^' 

etc.,  etc. 


NEW  YORK 

JAMES  POTT  &  CO.,  PUBLISHERS 

1900 


Copyright,  1899 

BY 

lAMES  POTT  &  COMPANY 
New  York 


>• 
as 


TO    THOSE    WHO    LOVE    THE 

CHURCH 

AND    PRAY    AND    LABOR    FOR    HER 
INCREASE    IN 

TENNESSEE 

THIS    BOOK    IS    AFFECTIONATELY 
DEDICATED. 


tKj4^ 


PREFACE. 

When  the  present  writer  was  appointed  at  the 
Sixty-sixth  Annual  Convention  of  the  Church  in 
the  Diocese  of  Tennessee  Historiographer  of  the 
Diocese,  in  succession  to  the  Rev.  George  White, 
D.D.,  and  Mr.  P.  M.  Radford,  he  supposed  that 
he  could  best  fulfil  the  duties  of  the  office  by 
digesting  the  mass  of  material  collected  by  the 
patient  and  intelligent  industry  of  his  predeces- 
sors, and  by  preparing  therefrom  a  comprehen- 
sive account  of  the  progress  of  the  Church  in 
Tennessee,  which  would  be  of  interest  outside 
of  the  narrow  circle  of  ecclesiastical  antiquaries. 
It  was  with  deep  regret,  therefore,  that  he  learned 
that  the  materials  collected  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
White  had  been  scattered  and  lost;  that  the  like 
fate  had  overtaken  some  valuable  historical  papers 
prepared  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Gray,  now  Bishop  of 
Southern  Florida;  and  that  such  disposition  was 
made  of  the  papers  of  the  late  Mr.  Radford  as  to 
defeat  the  ends  which  that  indefatigable  collator 
of  historical  data  had  in  view  throughout  his 
labors  as  historiographer.  The  present  writer 
would  have  been  quite  content  to  have  appeared 
before  the  reader  as  the  editor  of  Mr.  Radford's 
work,  and  the  pursuit  of  such  a  course  would 


undoubtedly  have  enhanced  the  merit  of  the 
present  history.  But  the  author  has  been  denied 
access  to  any  of  his  predecessor's  wori<,  save 
what  has  been  published  in  the  Diocesan  Journals 
since  1887. 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  author  has 
sought  the  greater  part  of  his  material  in  the  jour- 
nals of  the  diocese;  but  he  has  extended  his  in- 
quiry to  many  other  volumes  treating  of  various 
phases  of  the  history  of  Tennessee,  and  he  has 
likewise  sought  much  information  by  correspond- 
ence. To  those  who  have  kindly  assisted  him 
in  his  work  he  here  makes  his  most  grateful 
acknowledgments.  That  the  book  may  be  kept 
within  the  limits  set  for  it  from  the  beginning, 
he  refrains  from  more  specific  reference  to  the 
authorities  consulted  or  to  those  who  have,  by 
contributing  information,  rendered  assistance. 
The  reader  will  perceive  the  propriety,  however, 
of  mentioning  Mrs.  Donna  Otey  Compton,  who 
has  kindly  placed  at  the  author's  disposal  her 
father's  private  journals  and  many  papers  which 
have  been  of  inestimable  service.  A.  H.  N. 

SoMERViLLE,  Tenn.,  June,  1899. 


COMTENTS. 


r.  The  State  of  Tennessee,     .         .            .  -9 

II.  The  People  AND  THEIR  Religions,      .  .            2i 

III.  The  Church,        .            .            •            •  -37 

IV.  Advance  of  the  Church  into  Tennessee,  .  49 
V.  The  Diocese  of  Tennessee,          .            .  -63 

VI.  The  First  Bishop  of  Tennessee,        .  .            73 

VII.  A  Day  of  Small  Things,              .            .  .82 

VIII.  Mission  Work  and  Parochial  Increase,  .            94 

IX.  The  Church  AND  Education,       .            .  .118 

X.  Some  of  the  Giants  IN  the  Earth  IN  Those  Days,     126 

XI.  Years  that  the  Locust  Hath  Eaten,  .           1  38 

XII.  The  Inauguration  of  a  New  Regime,      .  •     '53 

XIII.  Strengthening  the  Things  that  Remained,  .  159 

XIV.  An  Era  of  Ecclesiastical  Architecture,  .     173 
XV.  The  Church  AND  THE  Negro,              .  .           177 

XVI.  A  Summing-up  of  Results,          .            .  .     189 

XVII.  The  Men  of  the  Later  Days,            .  .           198 

XVIII.  Preparing  for  a  New  Epoch,      .            .  .    214 

XIX.  The  Close  of  an  Era  and  a  Retrospect,  .          223 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH 

IN    THE 

DIOCESE  OF  TENNESSEE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE   STATE   OF   TENNESSEE. 

If  history  be,  as  some  say,  the  narration  of 
events  within  the  sphere  of  human  agency  and 
interest,  or,  to  quote  a  more  specific  definition 
— "the  sum  total  of  events  which  have  con- 
tributed to  the  progress  of  mankind" — then  the 
territory  now  embraced  within  the  State  of 
Tennessee  has  no  history  previous  to  the  year 
1768.  De  Soto  may  indeed  have  reached  its 
southwestern  borders  in  the  middle  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  it  was  embraced  in  a  royal  grant 
made  to  Sir  Robert  Heath  in  1630  and  in  another 
made  to  Lord  Ashley  and  others  in  1663;  Mar- 
quette, Joliet  and  La  Salle,  within  the  next  two 
decades,  saw  its  western  borders ;  the  first  English 
explorations  from  Virginia,  in  1748,  penetrated 
its  wilds  in  the  eastern  portion;  and  Fort  Loudon 
was  built  in  1756  somewhere  in  what  is  now  East 
Tennessee.     Yet  none  of  these  events  are  known 


10  HISTORY    OF  THE   CHURCH   IN 

to  have  had  any  permanent  influence  upon  the 
history  of  the  State  or  of  its  people. 

By  the  Treaty  of  Fort  Stanwix  in  1768,  how- 
ever, the  "Six  Nations,"  living  upon  the  Northern 
Lakes,  ceded  to  the  King  of  England  a  vast 
region,  including  the  country  between  the  Ohio 
and  Tennessee  Rivers.  This  country  was  then 
occupied  by  the  Cherokee  Indians,  and  the  sup- 
position that  their  claim  had  been  ceded  by  the 
signatures  of  a  few  Cherokees  who  happened  to 
be  present  at  Fort  Stanwix  when  the  Treaty  was 
made,  induced  white  people  to  move  into  the 
eastern  portion  of  the  territory,  comprising  the 
valley  of  the  Clinch,  the  Holston,  the  Watauga, 
theNollichucky  and  French  Broad — rivers  which 
combined  to  make  the  Tennessee. 

The  valley  was  from  northeast  to  southwest, 
between  the  Cumberland  mountains  on  the 
northwest  and  the  Great  Smoky  and  Unaka 
mountains  on  the  east,  separating  it  from  what 
is  now  the  State  of  North  Carolina.  It  was 
really  a  part  of  North  Carolina,  but  was  so  situ- 
ated by  reason  of  its  physical  features  as  to  be 
of  readier  access  to  southwestern  Virginia;  and 
thence  the  first  movement  for  its  colonization 
came. 

It  was  in  1769  that  Captain  William  Bean  from 
Virginia  erected  a  log  house,  and  thus  effected  a 


THE    DIOCESE    OF    TENNESSEE,  I  I 

permanent  settlement  upon  the  banks  of  the  Wa- 
tauga, near  its  union  with  Boone's  Creek.  This 
was  followed  by  other  settlements  established  in 
Carter's  Valley  (in  or  near  where  the  town  of 
Rogersville  now  stands) ;  and  at  Brown's  Settle- 
ment, on  the  Nollichucky  River.  The  settlers 
were  for  the  most  part  honest  and  brave  men, 
driven  by  their  poverty  from  southwestern  Vir- 
ginia still  further  into  the  wilderness  in  search  of 
lands  that  would  yield  them  a  living. 

About  this  time  political  troubles  in  North 
Carolina,  between  the  Royalist  government  and 
certain  malcontents  who  styled  themselves 
"  Regulators,"  reached  a  crisis.  At  the  battle  of 
Alamance  in  1771,  two  hundred  Regulators  were 
left  dead  on  the  field  of  battle,  and  out  of  a  large 
number  taken  prisoner  by  the  Royalists,  six 
were  executed  for  high  treason.  This  had  the 
effect  of  directing  another  stream  of  settlers 
across  the  mountains  to  join  the  settlements 
already  established,  or  to  form  new  ones  upon 
the  Watauga  and  Upper  Holston  and  in  the  val- 
ley of  the  Nollichucky.  Some  of  these  settlers 
are  said  to  have  been  desperate  adventurers, 
such  as  are  usually  to  be  found  among  the  pio- 
neers of  colonization.  But  the  greater  numbers 
were  of  the  same  sturdy,  rugged  class  as  those 
who   had    preceded   them    into   the  valley — in- 


12  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH   IN 

clined  to  follow  the  lead  of  such  master  minds 
as  those  of  John  Sevier  and  James  Robertson. 

Up  to  this  time  the  settlers  had  supposed  that 
they  were  within  the  boundaries  of  the  Virginia 
proprietary  government,  and  they  had  taken  up 
their  lands  in  conformity  to  the  laws  of  that 
government,  relying  upon  the  guarantees  of 
their  rights  against  the  Indians  afforded  by  Vir- 
ginia under  the  Treaty  of  Fort  Stanwix.  Now, 
however,  much  to  their  chagrin,  it  was  discov- 
ered that  the  Watauga  Settlements  were  within 
the  limits  of  North  Carolina.  The  course  pur- 
sued in  this  exigency  is  admirably  illustrative  of 
the  character  of  the  earliest  settlers  of  Tennessee. 

They  were  especially  averse  to  acknowledg- 
ing themselves  under  the  control  of  a  govern- 
ment from  whose  oppressions  many  of  them 
had  just  fled;  but  promptly  deciding  that  some 
form  of  government  should  be  adopted  in  their 
trans-montane  colony,  by  which  wrong-doing 
could  be  put  down  and  equity  could  be  estab- 
lished between  man  and  man,  the  "Articles  of 
the  Watauga  Association  "  were  adopted  early 
in  the  spring  of  1772. 

These  Articles  are  frequently  cited  as  the  first 
written  constitution  ever  adopted  west  of  the 
Alleghany  mountains,  or  by  any  community  of 
American-born  freemen.     They  were  the  fore- 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  1 3 

runner  of  the  establishment  of  other  free  and 
independent  communities — a  type  of  the  repre- 
sentative constitutional  government  subsequently 
adopted  by  the  States  of  the  American  Union. 
Our  present  interest  in  them,  however,  is  only 
as  they  furnish  an  illustration  of  the  democratic 
character  of  the  early  settlements  from  which 
has  grown  the  great  State  of  Tennessee. 

The  Watauga  Association  was  chiefly  efficient 
in  providing  a  means  whereby  lands  could  be 
entered.  It  was  found  to  have  served  its  pur- 
poses by  the  time  the  troubles  between  Great 
Britain  and  the  colonies  came  to  a  head;  and  in 
1775  or  1776  the  three  settlements  in  the  Wa- 
tauga country  formed  themselves  into  what  was 
to  be  known  as  "Washington  District,"  and 
petitioned  North  Carolina  for  annexation.  The 
population  at  that  time  was  about  six  hundred. 
As  is  natural  with  frontier  colonies,  the  region 
was  becoming  attractive  as  a  rendezvous  for 
horse  thieves,  gamblers  and  fugitives  from  jus- 
tice.* 

North  Carolina  was  at  first  unwilling  to  rec- 
ognize the  Wataugans  as  upon  her  territory,  be- 
cause the  recognition  would  have  implied  obli- 
gations of  protection.    Nevertheless,  the  petition 


*Vide  Phelan's  "  History  of  Tennessee,"  p.  40. 


14  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

for  annexation  was  granted  in  1777,  and  the 
annexed  district  became  Washington  County. 
Its  boundaries  were  specified  as  running  west  to 
the  Mississippi  River,  evidently  in  ignorance  of 
how  vast  an  extent  of  territory  this  might  com- 
prise. 

Washington  County  included  for  a  time  all  of 
the  early  settlements  in  what  is  commonly 
known  as  "Upper  East  Tennessee."  In  1779, 
other  counties  began  to  be  carved  out  of  Wash- 
ington County,  and  in  that  year  Jonesboro,  the 
first  town,  was  laid  out.  It  was  intended  to  be 
the  county  seat  of  Washington  County.  In  1785 
Greeneville  was  laid  off  as  the  county  seat  of 
Greene  County. 

The  trans-montane  population  of  North  Caro- 
lina took  an  active  part  in  the  war  for  the  Inde- 
pendence of  the  Colonies  and  at  one  time  it  was 
an  important  part.  The  "  Backwoods-men  of 
Tennessee"  fought  and  won  the  Battle  of  King's 
Mountain  on  the  7th  of  October,  1780,  an  event 
which  sustained  the  same  relation  to  the  surrender 
of  Cornwallis  as  the  Battle  of  Bennington  to  the 
surrender  of  Burgoyne. 

After  the  Independence  of  the  Colonies  was 
established  North  Carolina,  in  1784,  passed  a 
legislative  act  ceding  her  trans-montane  counties 
to  the  United  States  as  territorial  possessions, 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  I  5 

upon  the  condition  that  the  cession  be  accepted 
by  Congress  within  two  years.  Against  this 
action  the  sturdy  settlers  in  Watauga  protested 
by  a  storm  of  indignation.  This  was  before  the 
adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution  and  the 
Wataugans  would  have  been  deprived  of  the 
protection  of  government  and  thrown  back 
again  upon  their  own  resources  had  the  cession 
been  actually  made.  Their  appeals  to  North 
Carolina,  in  1786,  for  protection  against  the  In- 
dians, were  refused.  They  at  once  took  steps 
to  organize  "a  separate  and  distinct  State,  inde- 
pendent of  the  State  of  North  Carolina."  It  was 
a  plucky  following  of  the  principles  established 
in  the  Revolution,  and  though  it  led  to  the  im- 
mediate repeal  of  thjg  legislative  act  of  cession, 
yet  the  movement  towards  the  establishment  of 
an  independent  State  continued  until  the  "  State 
of  Franklin  "  was  actually  set  up  in  the  valley. 

The  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution  in 
1787,  removed  the  principal  objections  of  the 
Tennesseeans  to  the  cession  of  their  territory  to 
the  United  States  and  brought  to  an  end  the 
State  of  Franklin.  In  February,  1788,  North 
Carolina  re-enacted  the  cession  of  her  western 
territory  to  the  United  States;  the  "  Territory 
southwest  of  the  Ohio  "  was  organized  in  1790, 
and  a  governor  appointed  therefor.     Knoxville, 


1 6  HISTORY   OF   THE    CHURCH    IN 

the  county  seat  of  Keene  County,  on  the  west 
bank  of  the  Holston,  and  in  the  heart  of  a  pic- 
turesque region,  had  by  this  time  grown  into 
sufficient  importance  to  be  made  the  territorial 
capital.  The  population  of  the  Territory,  em- 
bracing what  are  now  the  States  of  Kentucky 
and  Tennessee  was,  in  1791,  36,000,  including 
3,400  slaves. 

Prior  to  the  existence  of  the  State  of  Franklin, 
the  settlement  of  the  county  adjacent  to  the 
Cumberland  River  was  begun  by  a  movement 
headed  by  James  Robertson,  formerly  of  North 
Carolina,  and  more  recently  of  Watauga.  The 
settlers  of  this  region  also  agreed  upon  a  "Com- 
pact of  Government."  They  were  included  in 
the  State  of  Franklin  and  followed  that  State 
into  annexation  with  North  Carolina,  and  thence 
into  the  Territory  southwest  of  the  Ohio. 

The  settlements  previously  attempted  in  this 
region  were  at  a  low  ebb  when  the  Independ- 
ence of  the  Colonies  was  established  in  1783. 
But  hope  and  energy  revived  soon  afterwards. 
Davidson  County  was  organized  and  the  county 
organization  took  the  place  of  the  "Compact  of 
Government."  Nashborough,  the  result  of  the 
earliest  settlement  near  the  "French  Lick,"  was 
made  a  county  seat  and  its  name  was  changed 
to  Nashville.     Settlements  in  the  neighborhood 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  1 7 

increased.  From  "  Renfroe  Settlement"  the 
town  of  Clarksville  was  eventually  evolved.  In 
1788  Tennessee  County  was  set  off  from  David- 
son County  and  included  all  of  the  territory  now 
within  the  limits  of  five  counties  and  parts  of 
three  others.  The  county  seat  was  fixed  at 
Clarksville.*  In  179 1  the  whole  population  of  the 
Cumberland  settlements  was  over  7,000. 

In  1792  Kentucky  was  organized  as  a  State 
and  admitted  into  the  Union.  Four  years  later 
it  was  ascertained  that  the  territory  included 
within  the  boundaries  of  the  State  of  Tennessee, 
contained  a  little  less  than  67,000  free  white 
inhabitants  and  more  than  10,000  slaves.  The 
population  was  distributed  as  follows:  In  the 
eastern  counties  of  Washington,  Jefferson,  Haw- 
kins, Greene,  Knox,  Sullivan,  Sevier  and  Blount, 
there  were  over  56,000  whites  and  8,000  slaves. 
In  Davidson,  Sumner  and  Tennessee  Counties, 
there  were  over  8,400  whites  and  2,400  slaves. 
A  constitution  was  adopted  and  an  organization 
as  a  State  effected.  The  leaders  in  the  move- 
ment were  of  the  same  sturdy  character  as  those 
who  had  participated  in  the  former  organization 
of  the   Watauga  Association,   the   Cumberland 


*Tennessee  County  disappeared  from  the  map  by  an  act  of 
the  Territorial  Legislature  passed  in  April,  1 796,  which  divided 
its  area  between  Montgomery  and  Robertson  Counties. 


1 8  HISTORY    OF  THE   CHURCH    IN 

"Compact  of  Government"  and  the  "State  of 
Franklin."  After  some  opposition  in  Congress, 
the  State,  tailing  its  name  from  its  chief  river, 
was  admitted  to  the  sisterhood  of  States  on  the 
ist  of  June,  1796. 

The  State  thus  coming  into  existence  com- 
prised East  Tennessee  and  West  Tennessee. 
The  latter  division  extended  to  the  Mississippi 
River.  As  settlement  advanced  westerly  it  was 
met  by  an  influx  of  population  coming  down 
the  rivers  from  the  north.  Jackson  and  Browns- 
ville were  established.  The  former  became  a 
centre  of  activity  in  the  region  of  the  State  lying 
west  of  the  Tennessee  River. 

The  history  of  that  region,  known  at  first  as 
the  Western  District,  does  not  properly  begin 
until  1818,  and  the  treaty  made  that  year  by 
which  the  Chickasaw  Indians  parted  with  their 
interest  in  the  soil  of  Tennessee.  Counties  were 
rapidly  organized  and  settled:  Hickman,  in  1818; 
Henry,  in  18 19;  Hardin,  Madison  and  Shelby, 
in  1820;  Henderson,  in  1822;  McNairy  and  Gib- 
son, in  1823,  and  Fayette,  in  1824.  Immigra- 
tion into  Fayette  County  was  rapid  the  follow- 
ing year  and  Somerville  was  laid  off  as  the 
county  seat.  La  Grange,  in  the  same  county, 
attained  great  prominence  through  a  lucrative 
trade  with  the  Indians  of  North  Mississippi,  and 


THE   DIOCESE    OF   TENNESSEE.  1 9 

became  the  rival  of  Jackson,  the  county  seat  of 
Madison  County.  Subsequently  the  name  of 
Hatchie,  the  county  seat  of  Hardeman  County 
was  changed  to  Bolivar;  and  the  town  of  Ran- 
dolph grew  up  on  the  bank  of  the  Mississippi, 
in  Tipton  County,  as  the  entrepot  for  the  coun- 
ties farther  east. 

Memphis  was  laid  off  in  1 8 19  at  a  point  where 
it  is  supposed  that  De  Soto  reached  the  Missis- 
sippi in  1 541;  where  La  Salle  built  Fort 
Prud'homme,  in  1678;  where  the  French  built 
Fort  Assumption,  in  1739;  where  the  Spanish 
Governor,  Gayoso,  built  Fort  Ferdinand,  in  1795, 
and  Captain  Isaac  Guion  built  Fort  Adams,  in  1 797. 
It  was  partly  upon  lands  that  had  been  pre- 
empted of  the  North  Carolina  State  Government 
as  early  as  1783,  but  it  was  not  until  a  much 
later  date  that  it  was  definitely  ascertained  by  an 
authentic  location  of  the  thirty-fifth  parallel  of 
latitude  that  the  site  was  in  Tennessee  and  not 
in  Mississippi. 

The  population  of  Memphis  at  the  time  the 
town  was  laid  off  was  no  more  than  fifty,  and 
there  was  little  increase  for  the  next  ten  years. 
It  was  but  a  "prosperous  village"  in  1832 — a 
competitor  for  municipal  importance  upon  nearly 
equal  terms  with  the  town  of  Randolph,  and  of 
less  consequence  than  La  Grange.     It  was  for  a 


20  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH   IN 

long  time  growing  up  in  rivalry  with  Jackson. 
It  claimed  a  population  of  i,8oo  in  1840.  Ten 
years  later  this  was  increased  by  7,000. 

In  1834  it  was  provided  constitutionally  that 
there  should  be  "Three  grand  divisions  of  the 
State,  East,  Middle  and  West  Tennessee,"  the 
last  named  division  comprising  the  region  form- 
erly known  as  the  Western  District.  These 
three  divisions  were  considered  a  civil  and 
political  necessity,  and  have  not  been  without  a 
peculiar  influence  upon  the  history  of  the  State 
and  that  of  the  Church  within  the  State.  The 
Supreme  Court  has  had  three  branches,  one  for 
the  East,  another  for  the  Middle  and  a  third  for 
the  West.  The  University  of  Tennessee  fol- 
lowed the  same  lines.  And  later  still,  the  State, 
like  a  Christian  mother,  completed  the  compas- 
sionate care  of  her  most  helpless  children,  the 
insane,  by  the  same  three-fold  provision.  Local 
feeling  is  strong  in  these  three  divisions  and  the 
class  of  population  is  different  in  each.  The 
people  of  Middle  and  West  Tennessee  are  closely 
allied  to  those  of  the  States  of  Alabama  and 
Mississippi  lying  just  south  of  them  respectively. 
East  Tennessee  includes  in  its  population  the 
mountaineers  with  their  somewhat  lawless  ideas 
of  freedom,  and  their  rather  crude  civilization 
which  has  furnished  better  material  for  the  nov- 
elist than  for  the  historiographer. 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  21 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE   PEOPLE   AND   THEIR   RELIGIONS. 

Early  in  the  seventeenth  century,  the  landed 
estates  of  the  Earls  of  Tyrone  and  Tyrconnel, 
comprising  six  counties  in  the  Irish  province  of 
Ulster,  were  confiscated  by  the  English  crown, 
and  were  parcelled  out  among  certain  Scotch 
and  English  favorites  of  James  I.,  who  were 
brought  over  to  Ireland  for  that  purpose.  By 
far  the  greater  numbers  of  these  immigrants 
were  from  the  south  of  Scotland,  and  hence  the 
new  occupants  of  the  soil  of  Ulster  became 
known  as  "Scotch-Irish." 

They  were  ultra-Protestant,  thrifty,  prosper- 
ous and  pugnacious.  Emigrations  from  the 
Scotch-Irish  Ulstermen  to  America  began  later 
in  the  seventeenth  century;  and  in  the  early  part 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  by  what  were  known 
as  the  "Antrim  Evictions,"  30,000  of  these 
Scotch-Irish  sought  the  land  "  where  there  was 
no  legal  robbery,  and  where  those  who  sowed 
the  seed  could  reap  the  harvest."*  The  institu- 
tion by  England  of  a  more  tolerant  government 
policy  checked  this  emigration  for  a  while;  but 

*  Froude. 


22  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

it  began  anew  in  1728,  and  it  was  estimated  tliat 
from  that  time  until  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  12,000  Scotch-Irishmen  came  to  America 
annually. 

A  part  of  this  stream  of  immigration  reached 
the  eastern  borders  of  Pennsylvania,  where  it  was 
diverted  southerly  into  Maryland,  Virginia  and 
North  Carolina.  Another  part  reached  the 
American  shores  further  south,  encountered  the 
stream  from  the  north,  and  the  combined  force 
turned  westward  towards  the  Mississippi  River; 
and  it  was  by  this  means  that  Tennessee  claimed 
to  be  peopled  by  Scotch-Irish  stock. 

The  settlers  of  Tennessee  were  sturdy,  enter- 
prising and  intelligent,  with  a  fondness  for  the 
excitement  incident  to  the  adventurous  life  of 
the  frontiersman.  There  is  a  lawless  freedom 
in  the  life  of  the  van-guard  of  civilization;  and 
this  produced  in  the  early  days  of  Tennessee 
many  wild,  headstrong  characters,  who  held  in 
no  restraint  the  untamed  and  turbulent  passions 
which  they  had  inherited  from  their  Scotch-Irish 
progenitors.  They  were  tenacious  of  what  they 
held  to  be  their  rights  and  were  quick  to  resent 
a  wrong.  But  they  were,  on  the  whole,  God- 
fearing and  fair-minded. 

By  religious  traditions  the  early  settlers  of 
Tennessee  were  Presbyterians.     But  their  pur- 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  2} 

pose  in  colonizing  in  that  wilderness  was,  not  to 
find  a  suitable  place  for  the  exercise  of  their  re- 
ligion or  to  escape  the  temptations  incident  to 
the  world  and  organized  society,  but  to  get 
plenty  of  good  lands  for  the  cultivation  of  corn 
and  tobacco.  Their  preachers  followed  closely 
behind  them,  sharing  their  toils  and  their  dan- 
gers. Some  of  these  were  men  of  deep  learning 
and  pure  lives,  who  maintained  a  high  standard 
for  the  ministry,  and  "insisted  upon  dignified 
quietness  in  their  congregations."  *  One  of  the 
traveling  preachers  of  the  Methodists  reached 
the  Holston  in  1783,  and  in  1787  a  Methodist  mis- 
sionary was  assigned  to  the  "Cumberland" 
region.  The  Baptists  were  on  the  ground 
between  1770  and  1780,  and  in  1788  formed  an 
association  known  as  the  "  Holston  Association." 
Despite  the  abundant  labors  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian preachers  and  teachers,  (for  schools  were 
early  established  by  them,  and  it  is  unquestiona- 
bly due  to  their  labors  that  Tennessee  has  taken 
such  high  rank  among  the  States  for  its  educa- 
tional facilities; )  and  despite  the  efforts  of  the 
Baptist  and  Methodist  preachers,  the  religious 
conditions  of  Tennessee  sank  to  a  deplorably 
low  state  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century. 

*  Phelan. 


24  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

There  were  undoubtedly  many,  even  among 
the  early  settlers,  who  were  fugitives  from  jus- 
tice or  evading  the  payment  of  debts  contracted 
elsewhere.  The  settlers  of  one  locality  in  par- 
ticular were  said  to  be  lawless  desperadoes,  who 
made  a  practice  of  disguising  themselves  as 
Indians  and  preying  upon  the  emigrants  passing 
through  their  neighborhood.  There  was  a  pirate 
element  in  the  Western  District,  infesting  the 
river  and  the  Natchez  trail,  down  to  the  year 
1834.  Distilleries  were  among  the  earliest 
industries  established,  and  intemperance  was 
everywhere  rife.  One  of  the  early  preachers 
narrates  an  occasion  when  he  had  a  congrega- 
tion too  drunk  to  listen  to  him.  Gambling 
gained  an  early  notoriety,  and  a  fondness  for  the 
race-track  was  noted  as  one  of  the  first  manifes- 
tations of  an  advancement  beyond  the  primitive 
stages  of  civilization.* 

In  fact  the  moral  and  religious  conditions  of 
the  then  border  States  of  Kentucky  and  Tennes- 
see in  the  last  decade  of  the  eighteenth  century 
were  so  deplorable  as  to  be  the  subject  of  special 
comment,  even  at  a  time  when  it  was  evident 
everywhere  that  "the  lowest  low-water  mark 
of  the  lowest  ebb-tide  of  spiritual  life"  had  been 


*  Vide  Phelan. 


THE   DIOCESE  OF   TENNESSEE.  25 

reached  in  the  history  of  American  Christianity, 
and  that  "  infidelity  was  triumphant  and  religion 
was  expiring."  * 

This  general  low  condition  of  religion  is 
admitted  by  writers  upon  religious  economics 
to  have  been  largely  due  to  a  reaction  from  the 
"Great  Awakening,"  the  revival  which  broke 
out  in  New  England  in  the  early  part  of  the 
century  and  spread  thence  to  all  the  settled  por- 
tions of  America.  Tennessee  was  settled  and 
admitted  to  statehood  in  time  to  be  caught  in 
the  flood  of  the  reaction.  It  was  a  counter- 
reaction  that  produced  what  is  known  as  the 
^'Second  Great  Awakening,"  or  the  "Great 
Revival  of  1800."  This  movement  centred 
upon  and  radiated  from  the  Cumberland  country 
in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  and  was  not  with- 
out its  influence  upon  the  history  of  religion  in 
the  latter  State. 

It  had  its  rise  in  the  fervid  preaching  of  James 
McCready,  a  Presbyterian  minister,  in  1796; 
followed  three  years  later  by  that  of  two  broth- 
ers, William  and  John  McGee,  one  a  Presbyterian 
and  the  other  a  Methodist,  who  in  the  course  of 
their  itinerant  preaching  to  open-air  congrega- 
tions,   inaugurated  the    first    camp-meeting   in 

*  Leonard  Woolsey   Bacon:    "A   History   of   American 
Christianity,"  p.  230,  etc. 


26  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH   IN 

America.  It  was  in  the  woods  of  Logan  County, 
Kentucky,  in  July,  1800.  It  was  due  to  the 
exigencies  of  the  case,  and  though  not  without 
Scriptural  analogy,  seems  not  to  have  been 
regarded  even  then  as  of  the  essence  of  the 
Christian  religion  or  as  an  especial  means  of 
grace,  but  merely  as  an  incident  to  the  occasion. 
Nevertheless,  the  picnic-form  appendix  has  ever 
since  been  a  physiological  phase  of  Tennessee 
religion,  subject  to  irritating  congestions  and 
inflammations. 

The  "  Great  Revival  of  1800"  found  in  Ten- 
nessee the  class  of  temper  peculiarly  susceptible 
of  intense  excitement.  It  acted  directly  upon 
men  and  women  living  in  a  wild  country,  with- 
out the  constraints  of  law  or  conventionality,, 
long  since  broken  loose  from  the  religious 
sentiments  and  observances  which  were  theirs 
by  heredity  and  tradition,  and  having  their  con- 
sciences suddenly  awakened  from  a  long  lethargy 
in  which  they  had  abandoned  themselves  tO' 
vicious  lives.  Under  these  circumstances,  very 
naturally,  the  physical  manifestations  attendant 
upon  the  religious  excitement  fostered  by  the 
preachings  in  the  open  air  to  immense  throngs, 
were  of  theintensest  and  most  extravagant  sort.* 


*  Vide  Bacon :  History  of  American  Christianity. 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  27 

A  Strange  nervous  malady — epidemic  or  even 
contagious  in  its  nature,  a  peculiar  form  or  phase 
of  hysteria  or  catalepsy,  which  is  known  by  the 
rather  unpoetical  and  wholly  undignified  name 
of  ' '  the  jerks  " — broke  out  among  the  attendants 
upon  those  open-air  gatherings.  There  is  one 
description  of  this  curious  manifestation  which 
is  copied  in  nearly  every  work  that  takes  account 
of  this  historical  period.  The  fact  that  the 
eccentric  Lorenzo  Dow  is  apparently  the  chief 
authority  for  this  oft-repeated  account  of  the 
"jerky  religion,"  might  lead  us  to  suspect  that 
he  had  been  led  astray  by  a  perfervid  imagina- 
tion, were  it  not  that  parallels  are  to  be  found  in 
authentic  annals  throughout  the  history  of  Chris- 
tianity, including  the  fourteenth  century  "dance 
of  St.  John  "  and  Flagellants,  the  Shakers  of 
more  recent  times,  and  the  Penitentes  and  the 
Indian  ghost-dance  of  the  present  day.  Besides 
which,  the  physical  manifestation  of  enthusiasm 
has  not  been  confined  to  religion,  but  has  ex- 
tended to  political  and  military  excitements  as 
well. 

Whether  or  not  anything  religious  in  Tennes- 
see is  now  to  be  traced  historically  to  "the 
jerks,"  the  "Great  Revival  of  1800"  had  its 
undoubted  effect  upon  the  religions  of  the  Ten- 
nesseeans.     The  population  of  the  State  was  at 


28  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

the  time,  by  tradition,  at  least,  largely  Presby- 
terian; and  the  Presbyterians  were  beyond  all 
question  the  dominant  religious  body  in  the 
State.  The  Great  Revival  was,  in  the  manner 
of  its  conduct,  contrary  to  the  spirit  and  genius 
of  Presbyterianism.  The  more  intelligent  of  that 
body  were  naturally  repelled  by  the  grotesque- 
ness  of  the  extravagant  physical  manifestations 
and  appalled  by  the  irreverance  which  attributed 
these  excesses  to  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
They  were,  furthermore,  alarmed  at  the  evident 
lowering  of  the  standard  of  qualifications  for  the 
ministry  which  this  movement  portended,  and 
the  debasement  of  the  idea  of  religion  which 
"the  jerks  "  were  likely  to  create.* 

On  the  other  hand,  there  were  those  who  re- 
garded the  work  accomplished  by  the  Great 
Revival  as  a  sufficient  justification  of  all  the  ex- 
cesses committed  in  the  name  of  religion  and  as 
one  to  be  encouraged.  They  judged  the  move- 
ment by  the  immense  number  of  "conversions" 
reported  to  have  resulted  from  it,  and  the  unedu- 
cated preachers,  whom  it  was  now  intended  to 
put  into  the  field,  promised  far  greater  numerical 
results  than  the  educated  ministry  of  the  Pres- 
byterians had  previously  attained  to.     The  ad- 

*  Cf.  Phelan,  Bacon,  McFerrin  ("  History  of  Methodism 
in  Tennessee  "),  and  others. 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  29 

herents  of  those  views  formed  the  Cumberhind 
Presbyterian  Church,  whose  organization  was 
finally  perfected  in  1810,  taking  its  name  from 
the  territory  whose  chief  river  is  the  Cumber- 
land. 

This  schism  in  Presbyterianism  was  fraught 
with  disastrous  consequences  to  the  parent  body. 
The  growth  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterians 
was  enormous  and  rapid,  and  it  so  sapped  the 
strength  of  the  parent  body  that  in  1890  they 
were  in  Tennessee  numerically  nearly  twice  as 
strong  as  the  body  from  which  they  seceded; 
and  they  had  more  than  half  the  number  of 
members  reported  in  the  State  as  belonging  to 
all  kinds  of  Presbyterians — Presbyterians,  Pres- 
byterians South,  United  Presbyterians,  Associated 
Reformed  Synod  of  the  South,  Cumberland 
Presbyterians,  and  Colored  Cumberland  Presby- 
terians— that  number  being  in  excess  of  66,000. 

The  schism  in  the  Presbyterians  gave  the  great 
opportunity  to  the  Baptists  and  Methodists;  and, 
after  a  period  of  bitter  rivalry,  each  body  grasped 
its  opportunity  and  soon  outstripped  the  Presby- 
terians in  the  State.  In  1890  the  Baptists  were 
able  to  report  that  they  had  organizations  in 
ninety-two  out  of  the  ninety-six  counties  of  the 
State  and  more  than  106,000  enrolled  members, 
not   including  the   colored   Baptists,  of   whom 


30  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   IN 

something  will  be  said  iiereafter.  Of  Primitive 
Baptists  there  were  nearly  14,000,  and  of  several 
other  varieties  more  than  4,000. 

It  was  not  until  1766,  after  175,000  Scotch- 
Irish  Presbyterians  had  reached  the  American 
shores,  that  American  Methodism  had  its  rise  in 
the  preaching  of  Philip  Embury  in  New  York 
and  in  the  similar  ministrations  of  Robert  Strow- 
bridge  in  Maryland.  Eight  years  later  there  were 
more  than  1,000  Methodists  scattered  through 
New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland, 
and  Virginia.  Up  to  the  close  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary War  the  preachers  labored  under  the 
direction  of  Mr.  Wesley  without  feeling  at  liberty 
to  assume  the  right  to  ordain  ministers  or  estab- 
lish any  particular  independent  church  organiza- 
tion, and  looking  to  others  for  the  sacraments — 
usually  to  the  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England.* 

But  the  Independence  of  the  North  American 
provinces  and  their  erection  into  separate  States; 
and  their  complete  severance  from  the  govern- 
ment— civil  and  ecclesiastical — of  England,  was 
made  by  the  Methodists  the  occasion  of  a  change 
of  policy.  In  a  letter  dated  from  Bristol  on  the 
loth  of  September,  1784,  Mr.  Wesley  advised 
what  should  be  done  in  such  an  exigency  by 

*  McFerrin. 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  3 1 

"'some  thousands  of  inhabitants  of  these  States." 
Mr.  Wesley  believed  "according  to  Lord 
King,"  that  Bishops  and  Presbyters  were  of  the 
same  order  and  that  "he  as  a  Presbyter  of  the 
Church  of  England,  under  God,  had  a  right  to 
ordain  ministers  to  take  charge  of  the  flock  that 
"God  had  given  up  to  him  in  America."  He 
"accordingly  appointed"  certain  persons  "joint 
superintendents  over  the  brethren  in  North 
America,"  and  certain  others  "to  act  as  elders 
among  them  by  baptizing  and  administering  the 
Lord's  Supper."  The  follov;^ing  year  a  Confer- 
ence agreed  that  circumstances  had  made  it 
expedient  for  the  Methodists  to  become  a  separ- 
ate body  and  they  formed  themselves  into  an 
independent  Church  under  the  denomination  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  giving  as  their 
reason  for  so  doing  the  above  cited  letter  of  Mr. 
Wesley.  They  numbered  at  that  time  18,000 
members,  and  more  than  100  preachers.  They 
adopted  the  "  Episcopal  mode  of  church  govern- 
ment, making  the  Episcopal  office  elective,  and 
the  elected  superintendent  or  bishop  amenable  to 
the  body  of  ministers  or  preachers."* 


*  Cf.  McFerrin,  who  quotes  Mr.  Wesley's  letter  verbatim. 
Mr.  Wesley's  letter  of  commission  to  Dr.  Coke  is  a  like  inter- 
esting document,  it  may  be  found  in  many  historical  works, 
■e.g.,  p.  291,  Bp.  Green's  Memoir  of  Bp.  Otey. 


32  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH    IN 

Upon  entering  Tennessee  the  Methodists  found 
themselves  bitterly  opposed  by  the  Presbyte- 
rians, already  on  the  ground,  who  called  them 
"enthusiasts"  ;  and  some  even  went  so  far  as 
to  say  that  they  were  the  "false  prophets  that 
were  to  arise  in  the  last  days."  Subsequent  to 
the  Great  Revival  there  was  some  dispute  as  to 
whether  the  credit  of  originating  that  movement 
was  due  to  the  Methodists  or  to  the  Presbyte- 
rians; and  acrimonious  controversies  regarding 
Calvinism  and  Arminianism;  and  with  the 
Baptists  regarding  the  mode  of  Baptism.  And 
though  "it  was  said  to  be  difficult  to  discrimi- 
nate between  a  Presbyterian  and  a  Methodist 
preacher  or  member,"  in  the  Great  Revival,  and 
that  "they  preached  together  and  shouted 
together — for  stiff,  sullen,  dry  formality  was  then 
not  much  in  vogue,"*  yet  for  all  that  the  con- 
tinued peace  of  Zion  seems  not  to  have  been  the 
most  conspicuous  resultant  of  that  notable  event* 

In  1844  occurred  the  division  which  resulted 
in  the  organization  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South.  In  1890  the  Methodists  num- 
bered nearly  43,000  in  Tennessee,  and  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  South,  more  than. 
121,000,   besides  which  there  were  representa- 

*McFerrin. 


THE    DIOCESE    OF   TENNESSEE.  3^ 

tives  of  four  other  kinds  of  Methodists  and  three 
separate  organizations  of  Colored  Methodists. 
That  the  Methodists  are  the  dominant  religious 
body  in  Tennessee  need  not  be  explicitly  stated. 

The  claim  has  been  made  on  behalf  of  these 
bodies  which  have  had  such  a  phenomenal 
growth  in  Tennessee  during  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury under  a  low  educational  standard  for  their 
ministry,  that  a  religion  of  that  kind  is  best 
adapted  to  the  population  of  this  State.*  Such 
a  claim  may  not  be  very  flattering  to  the  people 
whose  religious  history  is  here  commented 
upon,  and  can  only  be  conceded  with  the  reser- 
vation that  it  may  have  applied  to  times  now 
past,  and  that  the  people  of  Tennessee  are  now 
qualified  by  culture  and  refinement  for  the  ap- 
preciation of  another  form  of  religion. 

In  the  excited  state  of  the  people  after  the 
Great  Revival,  we  are  told,f  the  "Arian  heresy 
found  advocates  in  Tennessee,  and  a  sect  sprang 
up  called  'New Lights,'  or  'Schismatics,' headed 
by  some  Presbyterians.  They  called  themselves 
'Christians,'  and  afterwards  united  with  the  fol- 
lowers of  Alexander  Campbell,  who  were  at 
first  called  the  'Reformers.'  Others  went  into 
the  organization  of  the  '  Crazy  '  Shaking  Quak- 


*  Vide  McFerrin. 
\  McFerrin. 


34  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   IN 

ers."  It  was  the  multiplication  of  sects  after 
the  Great  Revival,  viewed  with  dismay  by  some 
of  the  people  brought  directly  under  the  influence 
of  that  great  movement,  that  led  to  the  forma- 
tion of  still  another  which  might  be  claimed  as 
indigenous  to  the  soil  of  Tennessee.*  It  took 
its  names  from  the  "Disciples,"  who  were  first 
called  "Christians  in  Antioch."  It  had  its  rise  in 
1827,  and  had  attained  in  1890  to  more  than 
41,000  members. 

These  were  dominant  religious  bodies  and 
actively  engaged  in  their  work  when  the  Dio- 
cese of  Tennessee  was  organized  in  1829  by  a 
devoted  band  of  adherents  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  with  scarcely  more  than  100 
communicants  to  begin  with.  The  number  of 
communicants  in  1890  was  more  than  5,600. 

The  State  of  Tennessee  has  been  considered  a 
fair  field  for  the  exploitation  of  nearly  every  kind 
of  religionism.  Some  Quakers  settled  in  East 
Tennessee  early  in  the  nineteenth  century  and 
became  active  in  efforts  looking  to  the  emanci- 
pation of  slaves.  Societies  were  organized  for 
that  purpose  on  Lost  Creek,  from  which  sprang 
many  similar  societies  all  over  the  State.  But 
the  Quakers  or  Society  of  Friends  numbered  in 

*  Bacon,  p.  241. 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  35 

Tennessee  in  1890  only  fifteen  organizations  and 
1,000  members. 

Conditions  have  not  been  so  generally  favor- 
able for  the  maintenance  or  growth  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  in  Tennessee  as  else- 
where, though  that  Church  numbered  in  1890 
nearly  18,000  communicants.  The  Lutherans 
had  in  that  year  about  3,000.  Both  of  these 
represent  numerical  strength  derived  from  com- 
paratively recent  immigration.  We  find  in  that 
same  year,  the  following  having  adherents  num- 
bering over  1,000  and  less  than  2,000  each: 
Jews,  Congregationalists,  Dunkards  and  Spirit- 
ualists; while  Adventists,  Plymouth  Brethren, 
Christian  Union,  Latter  Day  Saints,  Mennonites, 
Reformed,  Unitarians  and  Universalists,  were 
barely  represented  in  the  population  of  the  State.* 

The  population  of  Tennessee  in  1890  was 
1,763,723.  The  percentage  of  "Church  mem- 
bers "  to  the  population  in  that  year  was  com- 
puted as  31.26  as  compared  with  32.92,  the 
general  average  for  the  United  States.  But  these 
figures  take  into  account  more  than  112,000 
negroes  who  belong  to  some  religious  organi- 
zation ;  and  as  it  is  safe  to  say  that  nearly  every 


*  These  facts  regarding  the  religious  statistics  of  Tennessee 
are  gathered  from  Dr.  H.  K.  Carroll's  "  Religious  Forces  of  the 
United  States."    (Edition  of  1893.) 


}6  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH   IN 

adult  negro  belongs  to  some  religious  denomi- 
nation or  another,  these  latter  figures  must  very 
nearly  represent  the  entire  adult  negro  popula- 
tion of  the  State.  The  estimated  percentage 
above  given  may,  like  all  such  mathematical 
propositions,  mean  nothing  whatever,  excepting 
as  implying  that  Tennesseeans  prefer  not  to  be 
known  as  being  wholly  irreligious,  and  that  the 
average  white  Tennesseean  falls  considerably 
short  of  being  as  religious  as  the  average  citizen 
of  the  entire  Republic. 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  yj 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  CHURCH. 

It  is  in  no  spirit  of  arrogance  that  tlie  body 
whose  progress  in  Tennessee  it  is  the  present 
intention  to  set  forth,  is  termed  "The  Church." 
It  must  be  apparent  to  any  one  who  is  carefully 
observant  of  the  subject  that  what  is  called  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States 
of  America  is  one  with  a  higher  and  more  ex- 
tended body  which  is  justly  denominated  the 
Church,  and  which  is  mentioned  in  the  creeds  of 
Christendom  as  the  One,  Holy,  Catholic  and 
Apostolic  Church.  It  is  only  so  far  as  the  Protes- 
tant Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States  is 
loyal  to  the  Church's  own  conception  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  to  the  duties  imposed  upon  her  by 
that  conception,  that  she  is  entitled  to  be  called 
the  Church;  and  it  is  only  the  Church  in  that 
sense  whose  history  in  Tennessee  is  here  in- 
tended. 

The  Church's  conception  of  the  Church  is  not 
that  of  an  irresponsible  collection  of  more  or 
less  pious  persons,  each  following  the  dictates 
of  his  own  conscience,  even  though  that  con- 
science be  far  from  quick  and  active — not  that 


38  HISTORY   OF  THE  CHURCH   IN 

of  a  mere  accident  of  convenience  or  of  supposed 
possible  utility  in  its  relations  to  Christianity. 
It  is  that  of  an  integral  part  of  God's  plan  for 
man — the  Body  of  Christ,  a  kingdom  divinely 
appointed  to  do  Christ's  work  on  earth.  The 
Gospel  which  Christ  brought,  the  religion  He 
established,  were  in  the  form  of  a  visible  King- 
dom or  Church.  Such  a  Kingdom  or  Church  is 
mentioned,  not  once,  but  many  times,  in  words 
recorded  in  the  Gospel  as  being  His  own,  and  is 
referred  to  by  the  Apostles  in  terms  which  imply 
that  it  is  of  far  more  than  ordinary  importance — 
as  the  Body  of  Christ,  the  Pillar  and  Ground  of 
the  Truth. 

That  such  a  Church,  once  divinely  founded, 
realize  the  divine  promise  of  the  Founder's  per- 
petual presence,  it  must  necessarily  be  continuous 
throughout  all  time.  In  her  early  days  she  pro- 
duced, and  she  has  since  then  carefully  preserved, 
the  sacred  Scriptures  upon  which  many  other 
bodies  have  based  their  claims  to  a  right  to  inau- 
gurate and  maintain  a  system  distinct  from  hers. 

In  the  continuity  of  her  life,  separate  nations 
have  left  the  marks  of  their  native  qualities  upon 
her ;  and  the  best  example  of  this  is  to  be  observed 
in  the  history  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  and  the 
English  nation,  which  have  given  to  the  world 
the  best  examples  of  free  government  and  politi- 


THE    DIOCESE    OF    TENNESSEE.  39 

cal  institutions  and  the  maintenance  of  the  doc- 
trine, worship,  sacraments  and  ministry  of  the 
Church  in  whose  existence  belief  is  expressed  in 
the  Creed. 

It  was  the  Church  of  England,  fully  competent 
to  vindicate  her  claims  to  be  an  integral  part  of 
the  One,  Holy,  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church  (a 
claim  that  was  then  scarcely  disputed  save  by  the 
Church  of  Rome),  that  was  planted  in  the  English 
colonies  in  America — in  Virginia,  in  New  York, 
and  even  in  New  England.  The  Church  of  Eng- 
land was  "established"  in  New  York,  New  Jer- 
sey, Maryland,  Virginia,  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia.  Later  she  was  established  in  North 
Carolina,  and  remained  so  until  the  breaking  out 
of  the  Revolutionary  War,  though  without  becom- 
ing effective  in  the  trans-montane  region. 

Jurisdiction  in  the  American  colonies  was  given 
to  the  Bishop  of  London,  and  the  Church  main- 
tained in  the  colonies  the  same  constitution,  the 
same  ministry,  the  same  liturgy  and  the  same 
sacraments  as  the  Church  of  England.  Besides 
a  large  number  of  parochial  clergy  of  the  Church 
of  England,  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of 
the  Gospel  was  maintaining  in  the  colonies  at 
the  beginning  of  the  Revolution  about  eighty 
missionaries.  Repeated  attempts  to  secure  for 
the  colonies  the  Episcopate  ended  in  failures. 


40  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

At  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  when 
the  Independence  of  the  Colonies  was  secured,  all 
relationship  to  the  See  of  London  and  the  Eng- 
lish National  Church  was  destroyed.  This  was 
of  the  nature  of  a  disaster  to  a  large  number  of 
churches  scattered  throughout  New  England, 
the  Middle  States,  Maryland,  Virginia,  the  Caro- 
linas  and  Georgia.  The  war  had  left  some  of 
them  without  ministerial  oversight,  and  now  all 
were  without  Episcopal  supervision. 

In  May,  1784,  at  a  conference  of  clergymen 
and  laymen  from  New  York,  New  Jersey  and 
Pennsylvania,  steps  were  taken  to  form  "  a  con- 
tinental representation  of  the  Episcopal  churches." 
In  October  of  that  year  a  preliminary  convention 
was  held,  in  which  the  churches  of  Delaware 
and  Maryland  were  represented,  in  addition  to 
those  of  the  three  States  already  named.  It  was 
at  this  convention  resolved  that  "there  be  a  gen- 
eral convention  of  the  Episcopal  Church,"  held 
in  Philadelphia  in  September,  1785.  At  that 
convention  steps  were  taken  towards  the  adop- 
tion of  a  constitution,  the  alteration  of  the  liturgy 
to  meet  the  needs  of  American  Churchmen,  and 
the  securing  of  the  Episcopate. 

And  it  would  seem  that  the  attention  it  de- 
serves has  never  yet  been  paid  to  the  conservatism 
of  the  Churchmen  of  those  days,  manifested  in 


THE   DIOCESE    OF   TENNESSEE.  4 1 

the  face  of  a  contrary  popular  feeling  in  America. 
The  temptation  must  have  been  strong  to  throw 
aside  the  distinctive  features  of  the  Church  and 
substitute  for  them  anything  that  happened  to 
be  convenient  in  the  way  of  a  religious  society. 
The  leading  Churchmen  must  have  foreseen  that 
the  maintenance  of  a  ministry  of  Apostolic  suc- 
cession and  a  liturgical  form  of  worship  would 
handicap  them  from  the  start  in  a  race  for  success 
if  it  were  to  be  estimated  wholly  by  numbers. 
They  were  setting  themselves  a  task — and  they 
must  have  known  it — which  was  not  only  ex- 
ceedingly difficult  in  itself,  but  which  promised 
few  immediate  results.  Religious  societies  had 
in  them  every  element  of  popular  expansion; 
but  in  that  new  country,  where  the  popular 
mind  was  well-nigh  intoxicated  by  the  sense  of 
the  recent  success  of  democracy,  the  Church, 
M'ith  her  inherent  ideas  of  submission  to  orderly 
government,  was  never  likely  to  have  such  suc- 
cess. 

It  must  have  required  no  small  amount  of  true 
heroism  to  stand  up  for  a  ministry  of  Apostolic 
succession  under  such  circumstances  as  then 
existed,  especially  as  Episcopacy  was  inseparably 
connected  in  the  minds  of  Americans  with  tyr- 
anny and  hypocrisy,  owing  to  the  recent  deteri- 
oration of  the  Episcopal  office   in  the  English 


42  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

Church  during  the  Georgian  period.  And  look  as 
closely  as  we  may,  we  fail  to  discover  a  worldly 
or  otherwise  unworthy  motive  actuating  the 
pains  that  were  taken  to  organize  the  Church  in 
this  country  upon  the  basis  of  the  principles 
inhering  in  the  Church  Catholic. 

The  proposition  of  Dr.  White,  of  Pennsylvania 
(in  his  pamphlet,  "The  Case  of  the  Episcopal 
Churches  in  the  United  States  Considered,"  issued 
in  1782),  to  convey  for  a  while  the  power  of 
ordination  to  a  presiding  presbyter,  until  such 
time  as  a  Bishop  could  be  obtained,  "called 
forth  much  animadversion,  especially  from  the 
clergy  of  New  England  and  New  York,"  and 
probably  hastened  the  election  of  Dr.  Seabury  to 
the  Bishopric  of  Connecticut  and  his  journey  to 
England  in  search  of  consecration.  This  was 
not  obtained  until  after  many  months  and  much 
discouragement.  Then  it  was  from  the  non- 
juring  Bishops  of  the  Scottish  Church. 

This  called  the  attention  of  the  English  Church 
to  her  duty  to  the  people  of  the  same  faith  in 
America,  and  led  to  the  amendment  of  English 
statutes,  so  that  the  Episcopate  might  be  in  future 
more  readily  conferred  for  the  benefit  of  the 
daughter  Church  in  the  new  nation  across  the 
seas.  Consequently,  Drs.  White  and  Provoost 
were  consecrated  Bishops  of  Pennsylvania  and 


THE   DIOCESE  OF  TENNESSEE.  43 

New  York,  respectively,  in  Lambeth  Palace,  on 
the  4th  of  February,  1787,  by  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  the  Archbishop  of  York,  the  Bishop 
of  Bath  and  Wells  and  the  Bishop  of  Peter- 
borough. 

In  1789  the  Church  was  fully  organized  under 
the  name  of  "The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
in  the  United  States  of  America,"  and  equipped 
with  a  constitution,  a  general  convention,  and  a 
Prayer  Book.  Her  Episcopate  of  one  Bishop  of 
the  Scotch  succession  and  two  of  the  English 
succession  was  subsequently  augmented  by  the 
consecration  of  James  Madison  as  Bishop  of  Vir- 
ginia, at  Lambeth  Palace,  on  the  19th  of  Septem- 
ber, 1790,  by  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and 
the  Bishops  of  London  and  Rochester. 

The  continuance  in  the  American  Church  of 
the  doctrine,  the  discipline  and  the  worship  of 
the  Apostolic  Church  was  made  a  matter  of  con- 
cordat between  the  Scottish  Bishops  and  Dr. 
Seabury  before  the  latter  was  consecrated  to  the 
high  office  of  Bishop.  And  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Church  in  the  United  States  of  America 
came  into  corporate  existence,  not  as  a  voluntary 
society,  independent  of  all  external,  higher  au- 
thority, but  with  all  the  notes  and  marks  of  the 
Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church,  and  clearly  iden- 
tified therewith  by  historic  continuity. 


44  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

Her  growth  and  expansion  were  necessarily 
slow.  Previous  to  the  Revolutionary  War,  the 
efforts  of  the  Church  had  been  too  feeble  to  reach 
all  of  her  own  people  east  of  the  AUeghanies. 
Although  the  advance  of  Methodist  preachers 
beyond  the  AUeghanies  and  into  Tennessee  in 
1783  and  1787  was  under  authority  and  direction 
derived  from  Mr.  Wesley  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land; and  their  subsequent  increase,  expansion 
and  organization  were  expressly  under  his  author- 
ity "as  a  Presbyter  of  the  Church  of  England," 
yet  all  that  was  done  was  without  any  intention 
of  edifying  the  Church  of  England  or  her  daugh- 
ter Church  in  America.  It  was,  on  the  contrary, 
intentionally  inimical  to  such  edifying  and  to  an 
ecclesiastical  system  which  did  not  promise 
prompt  numerical  results.  And  the  plan  of  Dr. 
Coke,  who  was  still  a  clergyman  of  the  Church 
of  England,  exercising  a  superintendency  over 
the  Methodist  preachers  in  America  by  Mr.  Wes- 
ley's appointment,  looking  to  the  reunion  of  the 
Methodists  with  the  Church  and  the  extension 
of  the  Episcopate  to  them  by  consecration  de- 
rived from  Bishops  Seabury,  White  and  Madison, 
miscarried. 

During  the  struggle  for  the  Independence  of 
the  Colonies,  the  Church  had  been  regarded  as  a 
symbol  of  British  rule.     To  call  her,  as  she  was 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  45 

at  that  time  entitled  to  be  called,  and  as  she 
afterwards  for  a  long  time  continued  to  be  called, 
"The  English  Church,"  was  to  prejudice  the 
American  mind  against  her.  And  the  popular 
prejudices  thus  created  survived  much  longer 
than  would  naturally  have  been  supposed,  and 
served  to  retard  the  Church's  progress.  As  late 
as  1828  there  were  people  in  Ohio  who  looked 
askance  at  Bishop  Philander  Chase  as  wanting 
to  "make  himself  a  king,  or  at  least  to  introduce 
English  power"  into  the  State,  and  who  regarded 
the  ;^6,ooo  which  the  Bishop  had  collected  in 
England  for  Kenyon  College  "as  really  for  the 
purpose  of  erecting  an  English  fort  in  Ohio."* 

The  sudden  transition  from  a  monarchical  to  a 
republican  form  of  government  in  America  had 
furthermore  affected  the  popular  mind  in  regard 
to  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  and  created  a  ten- 
dency towards  the  attempted  conversion  of  that 
kingdom  into  a  democracy;  and  this  resulted  in 
such  forms  of  religious  anarchy  as  we  have  seen 
in  the  Great  Revival  of  1800.  And  for  a  long 
time  subsequent  to  the  Revolution  the  Church 
was  not  fully  understood  by  her  own  children, 
or  even  by  her  own  priests  and  Bishops.     Bishop 


*The  Rev.  Henry  Caswall:  "America  and  the  American 
Church,"  p.  47. 


46  HISTORY  OF   THE   CHURCH   IN 

White,  who  could  never  be  suspected  of  mon- 
archical tendencies,  such  an  ardent  republican  was 
he,  and  whom  it  was  impossible  to  dislike  be- 
cause of  his  lovely  character,  did  much  to  dispel 
the  prejudice  against  the  name  and  office  of 
Bishop.  But  Bishop  White  had  no  very  firm 
grasp  of  the  necessity  of  Church  principles. 
Bishop  Seabury,  who  represented  the  old  histori- 
cal school  of  English  Churchmanship,  and  had  a 
firm  grasp  of  Church  principles,  was  limited  in 
his  influence  to  a  small  territory  and  did  not  out- 
live the  eighteenth  century.* 

And  so,  because  it  was  impossible  to  over- 
come the  popular  prejudices  against  a  Church 
which  was  conservative  of  her  Apostolic  inher- 
itances, there  was  a  lower  point  of  depression  to 
be  reached  than  that  she  had  occupied  imme- 
diately after  the  Revolution.  It  was  when  those 
who,  at  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  had 
remained  faithful  to  the  order,  doctrine  and  wor- 
ship of  the  Church  had  passed  away,  and  there 
were  few  to  fill  their  places. 

Still  the  Church  survived.  In  1792  Thomas 
John  Claggett  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Mary- 
land, all  four  American  Bishops  uniting  in  the 
consecration.     The  General  Convention  that  vear 


*John  H.  Overton,  D.D.:    "The  English  Church  in  the 
l^ineteenth  Century,"  pp.  339  and  340. 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  47 

revised  and  set  forth  the  Ordinal,  and  inaugu- 
rated "measures  for  providing  missionaries  to 
preach  the  Gospel  on  the  frontiers  of  the  United 
States. ' '  Bishops  were  subsequently  consecrated 
for  South  Carolina  and  Massachusetts,  and  the 
succession  was  kept  up  in  Connecticut  upon  the 
death  of  Seabury,  and  in  New  York  upon  the 
retirement  of  Provoost. 

But  a  new  epoch  dawned  upon  the  Church  in 
America  in  i8i  i,  in  the  consecration  of  Dr.  John 
Henry  Hobart  as  Bishop  of  New  York.  Hobart 
realized  the  proper  position  of  the  Church  in  the 
world,  and  he  set  this  forth  in  a  manner  that 
gained  for  it  a  hearing  even  in  the  midst  of  bitter 
opponents.  So  indifferent  had  people  become 
to  the  principles  he  enunciated  that  it  was  not 
strange  that  they  seemed  to  them  as  new  theories 
regarding  the  Church.  But  to  the  Bishops  who 
came  later  the  facts  which  he  stated  were  patent 
enough. 

He  was  in  America  "the  Remodeler  of  the 
Episcopate,"  as  that  term  was  applied  by  Dean 
Burgon  to  Wilberforce  of  Oxford.  He  brought 
to  the  office  excellent  business  habits  and  an  in- 
fluence over  younger  men.  And  from  his  time 
down  the  Bishops  of  the  American  Church  have 
held  the  Church  to  be  of  divine  origin,  her  mis- 
sion in  this  country  to  be  of  far  greater  impor- 


48  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH    IN 

tance  than  the  mere  holding  together  of  voluntary 
organizations,  and  her  extension  as  far  more 
than  the  mere  extension  of  benevolent  lodges, 
which,  as  they  multiply,  serve  to  augment  the 
treasury  of  the  grand  lodge. 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  49 

CHAPTER  IV. 

ADVANCE   OF   THE   CHURCH    INTO    TENNESSEE. 

An  event  very  nearly  affecting  the  history  of 
the  Church  in  Tennessee  was  the  organization  of 
the  Diocese  of  North  Carolina  in  1817.  Bishop 
Moore,  of  Virginia,  who  had,  under  the  influence 
of  Hobart,  made  the  Church  a  reality  in  that 
State,  took  the  Episcopal  oversight  of  the  new 
diocese,  made  visitations  and  presided  at  annual 
conventions  therein  for  four  successive  years, 
beginning  in  1819.  In  1823  a  Bishop  was 
elected  for  the  diocese.  Upon  the  nomination 
of  the  Rev.  William  Mercer  Green  (afterwards 
Bishop  of  Mississippi),  then  the  youngest  priest 
in  the  convention,  and  the  only  one  who  was 
able  from  personal  knowledge  to  vouch  for  the 
character  and  value  of  his  nominee,  the  Rev. 
John  Stark  Ravenscroft,  of  Virginia,  was  unani- 
mously elected  by  clergy  and  laity  upon  the  first 
ballot  taken. 

Ravenscroft  was  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  of 
the  same  sturdy  Scotch-Irish  stock  as  the  early 
settlers  of  Tennessee.  Up  to  the  age  of  thirty- 
eight  he  had  lived  an  utterly  Godless  life,  reflect- 
ing in   his  character  the  spirit  of  his  time  in 


50  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

Virginia.  It  was  by  remarkable  means  that  he 
had  been  brought  to  surrender  himself  to  religious 
influences,  and  he  became  a  High  Churchman  of 
the  Hobart  type.  He  was  ordered  a  deacon  at 
the  age  of  forty-five,  and  in  due  time  advanced 
to  the  priesthood.  The  six  years  of  his  ministry 
in  Virginia  had  borne  such  abundant  fruits  as  to 
attract  the  attention  of  Mr.  Green  and  furnish  an 
actuating  cause  for  the  election  of  Ravenscroft 
to  the  Episcopate  of  North  Carolina,  and  that 
diocese  had  no  cause  to  regret  the  choice  she 
made. 

His  consecration  marked  an  epoch  in  the  his- 
tory of  Church  extension.  North  Carolina  had 
but  four  churches  at  the  time  of  its  organization 
as  a  diocese,  three  of  which  were  survivors  from 
the  colonial  period;  but  it  furnished  a  point  from 
which  the  Church  was  able  to  radiate,  and  par- 
ticularly into  what  was  then  called  the  "Western 
Country." 

It  was  from  the  Diocese  of  North  Carolina  that 
the  first  missionary  of  the  Church  entered  Ten- 
nessee. If  it  was  said  of  Kentucky  in  1792, 
whose  population  then  included  many  "Episco- 
palian "  emigrants,  chiefly  from  Virginia,  that  it 
might  be  hazarded  as  a  public  conjecture  that  no 
Episcopal  Church  could  ever  be  erected  in  that 
State,  the  same  could  be  said  with  greater  force 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  5 1 

apparently  in  1821  of  Tennessee,  which  then  had 
no  population  of  Church  predilections.  Yet  in 
that  year  there  appeared  within  the  borders  of 
the  State  a  man  for  whose  coming  the  upbuild- 
ing of  the  Church  therein  was  providentially 
waiting,  albeit  he  was  not  at  that  time  baptized, 
nor  had  he  any  knowledge  of  the  Church  whose 
Episcopate  he  was,  within  a  decade  and  a  half, 
to  adorn.  He  was  James  Hervey  Otey,  then 
teaching  school  near  Franklin. 

It  was  undoubtedly  due  to  the  terribly  low 
religious  conditions  which  marked  the  quarter 
of  a  century  succeeding  the  Revolutionary  War 
that  Otey  was  not  born  in  the  Church.  He  was 
of  good  English  stock  on  both  sides.  His  father, 
Isaac  Otey,  was,  through  the  maternal  line, 
descended  from  Sir  John  Pettus,  a  member  of 
the  British  House  of  Commons  toward  the  end 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  deputy-governor  of 
the  royal  mines,  author  of  some  professional 
works,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Virginia  colony 
and  a  benefactor  of  Norwich  Cathedral.  Otey's 
mother  was  a  Matthews,  a  lineal  descendant  of 
Tobias  Matthews,  who,  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
sixteenth  and  early  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
was  successively  Bishop  of  Durham  and  Arch- 
bishop of  York.  Both  families  were  Church  of 
England  people  down  to  Colonel  John  Otey,  a 


52  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

revolutionary  hero,  who  was  the  father  of  Isaac 
Otey,  a  well-to-do  farmer,  a  man  of  sterling 
integrity,  and  for  thirty  years  a  member  of  the 
Virginia  Legislature. 

The  family  home  of  the  Oteys  was  at  the  foot 
of  the  Peaks  of  Otter,  in  Bedford  County,  Vir- 
ginia; and  there  James  Hervey  was  born  on  the 
27th  of  January,  1800,  one  of  the  younger  of  the 
twelve  children  of  his  parents. 

Although  it  was  in  the  midst  of  the  period  of 
the  low  ebb  of  spiritual  life  in  the  country,  when 
skepticism,  infidelity  and  religious  indifference 
were  triumphant  along  the  whole  line,  yet  there 
were  men  born  within  the  previous  half  decade 
and  within  the  subsequent  decade,  in  the  States 
most  keenly  affected  by  this  spiritual  depression, 
who  were  destined  to  play  prominent  parts  in 
the  history  of  the  Church  in  the  States  south  of 
the  Potomac  and  Ohio  Rivers.  Among  them 
were  Green,  already  mentioned ;  Francis  Huger 
Rutledge,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Florida;  Nicholas 
Hamner  Cobbs,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Alabama; 
Leonidas  Polk,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Louisiana; 
Stephen  Elliott,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Georgia; 
Thomas  Frederick  Davis,  afterwards  Bishop  of 
South  Carolina;  and  Thomas  Atkinson,  after- 
wards Bishop  of  North  Carolina.  Of  these, 
Cobbs  was  born  in  1785  in  the  immediate  neigh- 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  53 

borhood  of  the  Otey  home,  though  it  is  unlikely 
that  the  two  families  knew  aught  of  each  other 
until  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  later. 

Young  Otey  was  sent  in  his  boyhood  to  a 
neighboring  "old  field"  school,  and  later  to  the 
Academy  at  New  London,  the  county  seat  of 
Bedford  County.  It  was  because  of  his  readi- 
ness to  learn  and  his  ambition  for  a  thorough 
education  that  he  was  favored  beyond  his  broth- 
ers and  sent  at  the  age  of  fifteen  to  the  University 
of  North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hill.  He  was  then 
six  feet  in  height  and  far  from  graceful  in  his 
carriage,  and  of  such  swarthy  complexion  as  to 
gain  for  himself  from  his  college  mates  the  nick- 
name of  "Cherokee." 

He  was  studious  and  faithful,  and  found  leis- 
ure for  some  excursions  into  the  field  of  pure 
literature,  where  he  unconsciously  laid  the  foun- 
dations of  that  clear,  vigorous  and  accurate,  if 
somewhat  heavy  and  inflexible  style  which 
marked  his  later  writings.  He  graduated  in 
1820,  taking  the  unusual  degree  of  "  Bachelor  in 
Belles-Lettres."  But  for  certain  family  reasons 
he  would  have  proceeded  at  once  to  the  Univer- 
sity of  Edinburgh  for  further  study.  In  place 
thereof  he  accepted  the  appointment  of  Greek 
and  Latin  tutor  in  his  Alma  Mater  and  began  his 
career  as  an  educator  in  which  he  subsequently 
won  distinction. 


54  HISTORY   OF   THE  CHURCH    IN 

He  married  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  and  re- 
moved to  Tennessee  where  he  opened  a  school 
for  boys  near  Franklin.  At  the  end  of  eighteen 
months  he  accepted  an  appointment  to  the 
charge  of  a  school  at  Warrenton,  North  Carolina. 
There  he  had  two  distinguished  pupils,  the 
brothers  Braxton  and  Thomas  Bragg,  one  of  them 
afterwards  a  General  in  the  Confederate  Army, 
the  other  a  member  of  the  Cabinet  of  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Confederate  States. 

Here  we  must  place  the  incident  which  marked 
a  turning-point  in  the  life  of  Mr.  Otey  and 
proved  of  inestimable  importance  to  the  history 
of  the  Church  in  Tennessee.  In  his  position  as 
principal  it  became  Mr.  Otey's  duty  to  open  the 
school  every  morning  with  some  religious  exer- 
cises. Through  the  difficulties  he  experienced 
in  the  performance  of  this  duty,  his  attention 
was  directed  to  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 
There  was  a  Prayer  Book  at  his  home  in  Vir- 
ginia— an  heir-loom  in  the  Matthews  family;  but 
it  seems  not  to  have  been  accessible  to  him,  and 
one  was  presented  to  him  by  Mr.  James  H.  Piper, 
who  then  or  subsequently  resided  at  Columbia, 
Tennessee.  He  it  was,  whose  efforts  as  a  boy 
to  carve  his  name  beside  that  of  Washington 
under  the  arch  of  the  Natural  Bridge,  Virginia, 
furnished  a  reading  lesson  of  thrilling  interest  to 
the  school-boys  of  half  a  century  ago. 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  55 

This  was  Mr.  Otey's  first  introduction  to  the 
"Literature  of  Prayer,"  and  to  the  Church 
whose  doctrine  and  worship  the  Prayer  Book  so 
admirably  illustrates.  He  not  only  found  in  the 
book  a  solvent  for  his  present  difficulties,  but  he 
became  forthwith  a  student  therein  of  those 
things  which  a  Christian  ought  to  know  and  be- 
lieve to  his  soul's  health.  At  this  juncture  he 
was  enabled  to  renew  the  friendship  begun  at 
the  University  with  the  Rev.  William  Mercer 
Green,  who  had  just  been  ordered  a  deacon  by 
Bishop  Moore  of  Virginia  and  was  in  charge  of 
the  Church  at  Warrenton.  Otey  was  baptized 
by  his  old  friend,  and  on  the  8th  of  May,  1824, 
in  St.  John's  Church,  Williamsboro,  he  was  con- 
firmed by  Bishop  Ravenscroft,  whose  influence 
over  him  had  already  become  very  marked. 

He  began  his  preparation  for  Holy  Orders,  and 
after  his  ordination  to  the  diaconate  by  Bishop 
Ravenscroft  in  October,  1825,  he  removed  again 
to  Tennessee  by  the  advice  of  the  Bishop,  who 
grasped  with  eagerness  this  opportunity  to  ex- 
tend the  Church  into  the  "Western  Country." 
Mr.  Otey  returned  to  his  former  purpose  of  es- 
tablishing a  classical  school  for  boys  in  Ten- 
nessee. The  school  was  established  in  Franklin, 
the  county  seat  of  Williamson  County,  situated 
on  a  beautiful  spot  in  a  bend  of  Harpeth  River 


56  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH    IN 

and  surrounded  by  a  country  which  has  been 
justly  designated  "  The  Garden  Spot  of  Tennes- 
see." The  school  he  called  "  Harpeth  Acad- 
emy." It  maintained  a  high  reputation  and  Mr. 
Otey  won  for  himself  a  place  in  the  history  of 
the  educational  enterprises  of  the  State,  as  one  of 
the  three  pioneer  educators  who  made  a  marked 
impress  upon  the  people  of  Tennessee. 

The  Maurys,  a  family  of  cultured  and  wealthy 
Virginians,  were  living  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Franklin  and  were  warm  friends  of  the  young 
deacon  school-master.  And  among  the  pupils 
at  Harpeth  Academy  was  Matthew  Fontaine 
Maury,  who  throughout  a  life  of  remarkable  dis- 
tinction, bore  testimony  to  the  excellent  quality 
of  Mr.  Otey's  system  of  teaching. 

Tennessee  was  still  in  its  pioneer  stages. 
There  were  neither  steamboats  nor  railways  in 
those  days;  not  even  turnpikes,  stage  roads  nor 
stage  coaches  west  of  the  Alleghanies.  Bridle 
paths  and  rough  farm  roads  were  the  only  thor- 
oughfares. And  the  soil  of  Tennessee,  attractive 
as  it  might  be  to  the  agriculturist,  was  regarded 
as  the  most  stubborn  of  any  in  the  whole  coun- 
try to  receive  the  impress  of  religious  instruction. 
This  was  largely  the  result  of  the  religious  meth- 
ods established  by  the  "Great  Revival"  and 
practiced  periodically  ever  since.     It  was  scarcely 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  57 

a  wonder  that  to  those  to  whom  that  form  of 
religion  had  been  proclaimed  as  the  only  genuine 
article,  and  to  whom  it  appeared  justified  by  the 
number  of  "converts  "it  made, — the  sane  and 
sober  way  of  the  Church  should  seem  a  spurious 
form  of  Christianity,  and  to  lack  the  power  of 
Godliness, — that  is,  of  numerical  results. 

Mr.  Otey  had  learned  his  religion  from  the 
Bible  and  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  at 
the  feet  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Green  and  Bishop  Rav- 
enscroft.  Ravenscroft's  experiences  had  been 
such  as  to  disgust  him  with  the  excitable  kind  of 
religion.  In  1810,  after  eighteen  years  in  which 
"  he  never  bent  his  knees  in  prayer,  nor  did  he 
once  open  a  Bible,"  his  mind  took  a  new  direc- 
tion and  he  joined  a  body  of  Christians  (no 
longer  existent),  known  as  "Republican  Meth- 
odists"; but  their  extravagant  and  almost  wild 
fanaticism  soon  drove  him  from  them.  And  if 
the  naturally  refined  tendency  of  Mr.  Otey's 
mind  and  the  instruction  he  had  received  from 
the  Bible  and  Prayer  Book  were  not  sufficient  of 
themselves  to  turn  him  from  all  that  was  de- 
grading in  the  popular  presentation  of  religion, 
to  what  was  dignified  and  ennobling,  the  knowl- 
edge of  Ravenscroft's  feelings  was.  So  he 
sternly  set  his  face  against  the  popular  form  of 
religion  and  determined  to  introduce  the  Church 


58  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH    IN 

services  into  Middle  Tennessee  and  to  instruct 
the  people  in  "  the  more  excellent  way." 

His  religious  ministrations  were  rudely  op- 
posed at  first.  Liturgical  worship  was  most 
strongly  opposed  even  by  those  who  had, 
throughout  the  "Great  Revival"  held  most 
strenuously  to  orderly  quiet  in  congregational 
worship  and  to  a  high  educational  standard  for 
the  Christian  ministry.  There  must  have  been 
some  families  having  Church  traditions,  at  least, 
scattered  through  Middle  Tennessee.  Yet  even 
these  looked  upon  the  efforts  of  the  young  deacon 
as  heroic,  but  as  zeal  misdirected.  Otey  was  for 
a  while  as  "  the  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilder- 
ness," when  he  began  to  hold  services  in  the 
lower  story  of  the  Masonic  Hall  in  Franklin,  the 
only  place  that  offered  itself  for  the  purpose. 
Even  the  curiosity  which  prompted  some  to  go 
occasionally  to  "hear  the  man  preach  and  his 
wife  jaw  back  at  him,"  was  not  likely  to  draw 
together  many  capable  of  receiving  permanent 
religious  impressions,  and  that  kind  of  curiosity 
was  soon  gratified. 

But  Mr.  Otey  persisted;  and  soon  he  began 
his  journeys  to  Columbia,  south  of  Franklin 
about  eighteen  miles,  to  open  up  work  there. 
Of  this  he  was  relieved  by  the  Rev.  John  Davis, 
a  deacon  from  the  Diocese  of  Pennsylvania,  sent 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  59 

out  by  the  Domestic  and  Foreign  Missionary  So- 
ciety of  the  Church  in  1826.  On  his  way  to 
Middle  Tennessee  Mr.  Davis  had  stopped  in 
Knoxville,  but  without  leaving  any  record  of 
work  done  there. 

Then  Mr.  Otey  began  his  trips  to  Nashville, 
eighteen  miles  north  of  Franklin.  That  town 
was  then  coming  into  prominence  and  was  prid- 
ing itself  upon  its  wealth  and  aristocratic  spirit, 
though  not  yet  for  many  years  the  permanent 
seat  of  government  of  the  State.  There  were 
undoubtedly  Church  people  there  who  had 
either  wandered  off  to  other  religious  denomina- 
tions, or  holding  themselves  aloof  from  all,  ap- 
peared to  the  ordinary  observer  as  "  heathen  and 
publicans."  Among  the  earliest  adherents  of  the 
Church  there  are  given  the  names  of  Dr.  Menick, 
Dr.  John  Shelby,  Major  H.  F.  M.  Rutledge, 
Thomas  Claiborne,  James  Diggon,  Matthew 
Watson,  Colonel  George  Wilson,  Godfrey  M. 
Fogg  and  Francis  B.  Fogg. 

Dr.  John  Shelby  was  a  native  of  Tennessee, 
being  the  first  white  child  born  in  Sumner 
County.  He  remained  one  of  the  stanchest 
friends  of  the  Church  in  Tennessee  up  to  the 
time  of  his  death,  in  1858.  Godfrey  M.  Fogg 
and  Francis  B.  Fogg  came  from  New  England. 
The  latter  had  been  living  in  Nashville  since  18 17. 


6o  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   IN 

He  became  eminent  as  a  legislator  and  judge, 
was  named  high  upon  the  list  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished lawyers  of  the  State,  and  never  failed 
in  his  active  and  efficient  support  of  the  Church 
for  half  a  century,  until  his  death  in  April,  1880, 
at  the  age  of  eighty-five. 

In  order  to  hold  services  in  Nashville  it  was 
necessary  for  Mr.  Otey  to  take  a  hurried  dinner 
after  his  Sunday  morning  service  in  Franklin  and, 
regardless  of  the  weather,  ride  a  borrowed  horse 
over  roads  scarcely  passable  to  a  less  determined 
person.  Arriving  punctually  in  the  town,  he 
was  accustomed  to  hunt  up  the  key  to  the  Ma- 
sonic Hall  where  services  were  to  be  held,  make 
a  fire  when  necessary,  and  give  notice  to  the 
people  of  his  readiness  for  the  service.  In  these 
days  of  selfishness  and  mutual  suspicion,  such 
energetic  zeal  would  be  misconceived  as  being 
actuated  by  self-interest,  and  people  would  re- 
spond, if  at  all,  with  the  feeling  that  they  were 
in  some  way  helping  out  the  minister  and  plac- 
ing him  under  obligations  to  them. 

But  in  those  days  there  were  evidently  some 
who  were  anxious  for  the  establishment  of  the 
Church,  and  who  recognized  in  the  young  and 
earnest  deacon  one  who  had  "come  not  to  be 
ministered  unto  but  to  minister"  ;  and  they  re- 
sponded heartily  to  his  efforts,  recognizing  them 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  6 1 

as  work  for  the  Lord.  Soon  a  parish  was  or- 
ganized in  Nashville,  and  took  the  name  of 
Christ  Church. 

In  1827,  Mr.  Otey  returned  to  North  Carolina 
and  was  on  the  7th  of  June  advanced  to  the 
priesthood  by  Bishop  Ravenscroft.  During  his 
absence  the  Rev.  Mr.  Howell  was  engaged  by 
the  vestry  of  Christ  Church  to  take  charge  of 
the  work  in  Nashville.  This  was  an  unfortu- 
nate movement,  and  had  the  effect  of  imperilling 
the  work  that  Mr.  Otey  had  accomplished.  The 
following  year  the  Rev.  Mr.  Davis  came  from 
Columbia,  and  he  remained  in  Nashville  as  Mis- 
sionary until  December,  1829,  when  he  removed 
to  Alabama. 

With  the  priestly  office  conferred  upon  him, 
Mr.  Otey  returned  to  his  work  in  Franklin.  In 
March,  1828,  Mr.  Piper,  who  had  been  as  we 
have  seen,  a  providential  instrument  in  the  prep- 
aration of  Mr.  Otey  for  the  work  of  bringing  the 
Church  into  Tennessee,  wrote  to  him  from 
Columbia  that  he  had  just  conversed  with  three 
other  prominent  citizens  of  the  place  upon  the 
propriety  of  organizing  a  Church  there,  and  all 
had  agreed  that  "  the  present  was  a  very  propi- 
tious period  for  making  the  effort."  Mr.  Piper, 
while  promising  many  friends  for  the  Church 
among  the  Presbyterians  of  Columbia,  felt  that 


62  HISTORY   OF   THE  CHURCH    IN 

"festinaie  leniter  {sic)  should  be  the  motto 
under  which  the  work  should  be  carried  on." 
The  result  of  the  action  then  proposed  was  the 
organization  of  St.  Peter's  Church.  The  Rev. 
Mr.  Davis  was  succeeded,  in  1829,  by  the  Rev. 
Daniel  Stephens,  D.D,,  who  took  charge  of  the 
newly  organized  parish  as  rector.  Dr.  Stephens 
was  a  man  about  fifty  years  of  age,  who  had  re- 
ceived orders  in  the  Church  in  1809,  at  the 
hands  of  Bishop  Claggett.  He  devoted  the  re- 
maining years  of  his  life  to  the  upbuilding  of 
the  Church  in  Tennessee.  The  efforts  of  Mr. 
Otey  at  Franklin  bore  fruits  in  the  organization 
of  a  parish  to  be  known  as  St.  Paul's  Church. 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  6^ 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE. 

The  time  seemed  to  have  come  in  1829  when 
the  scattered  fragments  of  Church  work  in  Ten- 
nessee could  be  unified  and  made  more  effective 
by  the  organization  of  a  diocese,  and  Mr.  Otey 
wrote  to  Bishop  Ravenscroft,  "  the  man  he  loved 
above  all  others,"  urging  him  to  visit  the  field  of 
his  chosen  missionary  labors.  And  despite  his 
failing  health  (he  died  on  the  5th  of  March  in 
the  following  year),  the  Bishop  came  to  Nash- 
ville in  the  latter  part  of  June.  He  brought  with 
him  the  Rev.  Daniel  Stephens,  who  settled  at 
Columbia  and  established  a  school  there.* 

Mr.  Otey's  instruction  in  Nashville  had  been 
patient  and  accurate.  But  when  Ravenscroft 
came,  the  large  crowds  gathered  to  see  (many 
of  them  for  the  first  time  in  their  lives),  a  Bishop, 
had  the  doctrine,  discipline  and  worship  of  the 
Church  explained  to  them  as  never  before. 
Christ  Church  was  set  far  forward  in  its  progress 
towards  permanent  establishment.     The  Bishop 


*  Radford.    Journ.,  1894.     p.  65. 


64  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH    IN 

Sternly  obeyed  the  call  of  duty  and  suspended 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Howell  from  the  ministry. 

"  During  my  short  stay  in  Nashville,"  wrote 
the  Bishop,  "I  have  been  greatly  delighted  and 
encouraged  by  the  interest  manifested  among 
members  and  friends  of  the  Church  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  religion  and  for  the  attainment  of 
regular  and  fixed  services  for  the  congregation 
once  organized  in  the  city,  but  broken  and  scat- 
tered by  the  hasty  and  unfortunate  employment 
of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Howell,  now  suspended  indefin- 
itely from  the  ministry.  Owing  to  the  part 
duty  compelled  me  to  take  in  that  unhappy  af- 
fair, not  a  few  of  the  vestry  were  disposed  to 
look  unfavorably  on  me,  but  reflection  and  more 
correct  information  have  produced  their  slow 
but  sure  effect  and  I  find  them  all  zealous  for 
putting  the  congregation  once  more  upon  a  reg- 
ular footing,  and  for  exerting  themselves  to 
build  a  Church  and  obtain  a  resident  minister. 
.  .  .  A  vestry  has  been  elected,  subscription 
papers  are  out  to  raise  funds  for  the  building,  to 
which  a  considerable  sum  is  already  subscribed, 
and  I  am  authorized  to  employ  a  clergyman  and 
to  pledge  eight  hundred  dollars  certain  as  a  salary. " 

In  the  Masonic  Hall,  Nashville,  on  the  ist  and 
2d  of  July,  Bishop  Ravenscroft  presided  over  a 
remarkable  convention.     It  was  remarkable,  not 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  65 

by  reason  of  the  number  of  its  members,  for  the 
members  included  three  clergymen,  (the  Rev. 
Mr.  Otey,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Stephens  and  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Davis)  and  six  lay  delegates,  (Messrs. 
Thomas  Claiborne,  George  Wilson  and  Francis 
B.  Fogg,  of  Nashville;  James  H.  Piper,  of  Col- 
umbia; Thomas  Maney,  of  Franklin,  and  God- 
frey M.  Fogg,  of  Nashville,  representing  Knox- 
ville)  There  were  also  present  part  of  the  time 
Messrs.  William  Hardeman,  P.  N.  Smith  and  B. 
S.  Tappan,  of  Franklin.  But  as  there  were  only 
about  fifty  communicants  of  the  Church  in  the 
State  at  that  time,  a  representation  of  one  dele- 
gate for  less  than  every  five  communicants,  was 
relatively  much  larger  than  in  any  convention 
that  has  since  sat  in  the  diocese. 

This  convention  proceeded  to  the  organization 
of  the  Church  in  the  State  of  Tennessee  by  the 
adoption  of  a  "Constitution  and  canons  for  the 
government  and  regulation  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  in  Tennessee."  It  recognized 
the  following  parishes  as  constituent  parts  of  the 
diocese  thus  organized:  Christ  Church,  Nash- 
ville; St.  Peter's  Church,  Columbia;  St.  Paul's 
Church,  Franklin,  and  St.  John's  Church,  Knox- 
ville,  though  the  work  in  the  last  named  place 
had  scarcely  begun. 

A  Committee  on  the  State  of  the  Church  was 


66  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

appointed  and  reported  as  follows :  "  From  what 
has  been  effected  within  a  few  years  by  the  ex- 
ertions of  a  few  who  have  stepped  forward  and 
under  most  discouraging  circumstances  lent 
their  aid  to  advance  the  interests  of  religion  and 
virtue  among  us,  we  may  form  the  most  pleas- 
ing anticipations  of  future  success.  A  few  years 
since,  the  Episcopal  Church  was  hardly  known 
in  this  State;  her  spirit-stirring  liturgy  was  un- 
heard within  our  borders.  Now  three  altars  have 
arisen  and  it  is  cheering  to  know  that  they  are 
crowded  by  pious  and  devoted  worshippers  of 
the  Most  High  God."  As  yet  there  was  no 
Church  building  erected  for  any  of  the  organized 
parishes  in  the  diocese. 

Bishop  Ravenscroft  confirmed  several  persons 
in  Nashville;  visited  Franklin,  where  he  con- 
firmed ten  persons;  and  wrote  in  his  journal  the 
impressions  he  had  received  of  the  character  of 
the  services  Mr.  Otey  had  performed  for  the 
Church  in  Franklin,  despite  the  care  imposed 
upon  him  by  his  school  work.  He  left  Tennes- 
see, visited  Lexington,  Kentucky,  to  the  great 
encouragement  of  the  Church  then  just  organized 
in  that  State;  and  in  the  Fall  of  1829  attended 
the  meeting  of  the  General  Convention  in  Phila- 
delphia. 

He  bore  in  mind  his  pledge  to  the  Church  in 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  67 

Nashville  and  made  efforts  to  secure  a  clergyman 
for  residence  there.  These  efforts  resulted  in  the 
arrival  in  Nashville,  in  December,  1829,  of  the 
Rev.  George  Weller.  He  brought  with  him  a 
large  number  of  Prayer  Books  and  other  Church 
literature,  both  for  gratuitous  distribution  and  for 
sale,  and  was  also  supplied  with  information  as 
to  where  more  were  to  be  readily  obtained.  And 
as  Mr.  Otey  knew  from  his  own  experience  the 
value  of  the  Prayer  Book  as  a  missionary  and  as 
an  instructor  in  religion,  we  may  be  sure  that  he 
recognized  in  the  advent  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Weller 
a  valuable  coadjutor  in  the  work  of  the  Church 
in  Tennessee. 

Mr.  Weller  took  charge  of  Christ  Church, 
Nashville,  succeeding  therein  the  Rev.  Mr.  Davis. 
The  following  year  he  established  a  Sunday 
School  in  which  the  Catechism  was  faithfully 
and  persistently  taught.  The  corner-stone  of  a 
Church  building  was  laid  on  the  5th  of  July  in 
that  year,  the  beginning  of  the  first  church  edi- 
fice to  arise  in  the  diocese.  It  was  upon  a  lot 
purchased  for  $2,400  on  a  prominent  street  and 
in  a  commanding  position  in  Nashville.  The 
building  was  completed  at  a  cost  of  $1,600,  and 
consecrated  by  Bishop  Meade  of  Virginia  on  the 
6th  of  July,  1 83 1. 

In  that  year,  Bishop  Meade  visited  the  diocese 


68  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

and  "strengthened  the  Church  "  by  administer- 
ing the  rite  of  Confirmation  in  Nashville  and 
Franklin,  and  by  wise  counsels  to  the  clergy  and 
laity  gathered  in  the  third  annual  convention. 
On  the  2d  of  July  he  laid  the  corner-stone  of  St. 
Peter's  Church,  Columbia. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  there  came  from 
North  Carolina  and  settled  at  La  Grange  in  West 
Tennessee,  Mrs.  Mary  Gloster,  a  widow,  together 
with  her  son,  Arthur  B.  Gloster,  her  son-in-law, 
John  Anderson,  and  his  brother  George  Ander- 
son. They  were  Church  people  and  had  been 
acquainted  with  Mr.  Otey  in  their  former  home. 
Indeed  Mrs.  Gloster  was  his  sponsor  in  baptism ; 
and  he  subsequently  spoke  of  Mr.  John  Ander- 
son as  one  who  had  preceded  him  into  the  Church 
and  who  had  influenced  his  coming. 

They  had  scarcely  settled  in  La  Grange  when 
Mrs.  Gloster  began  to  feel  most  keenly  what  it 
was  to  be  deprived  of  Church  privileges;  and 
she  rode  on  horse-back  to  Middle  Tennessee  to 
visit  her  God-son,  to  enjoy  the  services  of  the 
Church,  and  to  lay  before  Mr.  Otey  the  religious 
needs  of  the  country  in  which  she  had  settled. 
It  was  this  visit  that  caused  Mr.  Otey's  applica- 
tion to  the  Foreign  and  Domestic  Missionary  So- 
ciety in  New  York,  for  missionaries  to  advance 
the  Church   in  what  was  then   known   as  the 


THE   DIOCESE  OF  TENNESSEE.  69 

Western  District  of  Tennessee.  In  answer  to 
this  application  the  Rev.  Thomas  Wright  was 
sent  from  North  Carolina  and  arrived  in  Nash- 
ville on  the  I  St  of  July,  1832.  His  arrival  was 
opportune,  as  we  shall  see. 

In  that  year.  Bishop  Ives,  the  successor  of 
Ravenscroft  in  the  Episcopate  of  North  Carolina, 
came  to  Tennessee  by  the  urgent  request  of  the 
Church  people.  He  came  by  way  of  Knoxville, 
where  he  preached  and  confirmed  two  persons. 
He  then  proceeded  to  Franklin  where  on  the 
24th  of  June  he  confirmed  five  persons,  and  be- 
fore his  return  to  North  Carolina  he  confirmed 
two  others  in  Franklin.  At  Nashville  he  pre- 
sided over  the  fourth  annual  convention  of  the 
diocese  in  the  latter  part  of  June  and  in  the 
early  days  of  July.  Trinity  Church,  Clarksville, 
had  been  organized  a  few  days  before  under  the 
direction  of  the  Rev.  John  H.  Norment,  a  deacon 
of  the  Diocese  of  North  Carolina,  and  was  at 
this  convention  admitted  into  union  with  the 
diocese. 

But  the  most  important  work  accomplished  by 
Bishop  Ives  in  this  visit  was  the  ordination  of 
John  Chilton  and  Samuel  George  Litton  to  the 
diaconate  on  the  29th  of  June,  and  the  advance- 
ment of  the  former  to  the  priesthood  three  days 
later,  the    day  of   the  arrival  of    the    Rev.   Mr. 


70  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

Wright,  in  Nashville.  These  were  the  first  or- 
dinations in  the  Diocese  of  Tennessee. 

A  few  days  after  this  ordination  the  Rev. 
Messrs.  Wright  and  Chilton  set  out  for  the  im- 
mense field  of  labor  selected  for  them.  They 
held  services  in  Clarksville,  Paris,  Jackson  and 
Brownsville.  In  Jackson,  on  the  23d  of  July, 
under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Wright,  St.  Luke's 
Church  was  organized.  Five  persons  were 
elected  vestrymen,  though  five  years  later  there 
were  only  six  communicants  reported  as  belong- 
ing to  this  parish.  Shortly  afterwards  the  Rev, 
Mr,  Chilton  was  elected  rector  of  St.  Luke's 
Church,  in  connection  with  the  work  of  Zion 
Church,  Brownsville,  which  he  and  Mr,  Wright 
had  organized. 

Mr.  Wright  proceeded  to  La  Grange  where  he 
held  services,  to  the  great  joy  of  Mrs.  Gloster  and 
her  family,  and  where  he  presided  over  a  meet- 
ing of  the  citizens  at  which  Immanuel  Church 
was  organized.  The  recently  made  deacon, 
Samuel  George  Litton,  was  appointed  mission- 
ary-in-charge  and  continued  his  labors  there  and 
thereabouts  until  1846. 

Mr.  Wright  then  went  to  Memphis  which  he 
found  a  town  of  only  twelve  hundred  inhabit- 
ants. What  encouragement  it  offered  for  the 
establishment  of  the  Church  may  be  judged  from 


THE    DIOCESE    OF   TENNESSEE.  7 1 

the  entry  found  in  Bishop  Otey's  diary  at  a  much 
later  date:  "Rode  to  Memphis.  The  town  was 
tilled  with  Indians  and  the  people  too  busily  en- 
gaged in  traffic  to  think  of  their  spiritual  inter- 
ests." However,  as  the  result  of  Mr.  Wright's 
early  labors,  the  parish  of  Calvary  Church  was 
organized  that  year,  though  only  ten  communi- 
cants of  the  Church  remained  in  Memphis  in 
1835.  Mr.  Wright  extended  his  labors  to  Ran- 
dolph, then  and  long  afterwards  a  rival  of  Mem- 
phis, but  now  scarcely  more  than  a  name  upon 
the  map.  There  he  organized  St.  Paul's  Church. 
Thus  as  a  consequence  of  Mrs.  Gloster's  horse- 
back ride  there  were  five  parishes  ready  to  ap- 
ply for  admission  to  union  with  the  diocese 
when  the  fifth  annual  convention  met  at  Frank- 
lin, in  1833.  They  were  all  in  the  Western  Dis- 
trict and  they  marked  the  course  of  the  mission- 
ary journey  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Wright.  The 
route  of  this  pioneer  missionary  was  through  the 
counties  of  Madison,  Hardeman,  Haywood, 
Fayette,  Lauderdale,  Tipton  and  Shelby.  Fifty 
years  later  the  Historiographer  of  the  diocese,  * 
commenting  on  this  journey,  remarked:  "The 
Church  area  to-day  ...  is  limited  to  that 
territory    in  those  counties.     There  has  been  a 


Dr.  George  White. 


72  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

large  increase  in  churches  and  congregations — 
new  ones  have  been  organized  and  some  have 
gone  to  pieces — but  there  has  been  no  new  terri- 
tory taken  in."  Reasons  for  this  will  be  made 
to  appear  further  on. 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  73 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    FIRST   BISHOP    OF    TENNESSEE. 

To  enable  us  to  appreciate  the  epoch-making 
events  transpiring  in  the  years  1833  and  1834,  it 
is  necessary  to  bestow  some  attention  upon  the 
relation  of  the  Church  in  the  Diocese  of  Tennes- 
see to  the  ecclesiastical  organization  known  as 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United 
States  of  America.  Tennessee  was  one  of 
twenty  States,  (out  of  the  twenty-four  States 
then  existing  in  the  American  Union),  in  which 
the  Church  had  been  organized.  But  as  there 
were  at  that  time  only  fifteen  Bishops  in  these 
States,  and  two  of  these  were  assistant  Bishops, 
some  of  the  others  must  needs  have  the  Episco- 
pal oversight  of  the  Church  in  more  than  one 
State.  There  was  indeed  in  one  case,  that  of  the 
Eastern  Diocese,  as  it  was  called,  an  arrangement 
made  by  which  the  Church  in  five  States  might 
share  the  Episcopal  oversight  of  one  Bishop. 

And  this  was  the  only  case  in  which  the  term 
"diocese  "  was  recognized  at  large  in  the  Prot- 
estant Episcopal  Church.  The  Church  in 
America  had  not  yet  realized  her  national  exist- 


74  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

ence.  The  popular  idea  of  the  Church  was 
democratic  and  somewhat  Erastian,  utterly  at 
variance  with  the  comprehension  of  a  national 
Church.  The  Church  people  in  each  of  the 
twenty  States  referred  to,  had  organized,  elected 
a  Bishop,  (if  they  could  not  assure  themselves  of 
the  Episcopal  supervision  of  some  Bishop  in  a 
neighboring  State),  obtained  consecration  from 
other  Bishops  for  their  Bishop-elect,  and  then 
regarded  themselves  as  a  Church  wholly  auton- 
omous, independent  of  any  higher  governing 
body,  owing  scarcely  any  duties  outside  of  them- 
selves. 

The  General  Convention  was  regarded  as 
scarcely  more  than  an  advisory  board  and  was 
jealously  watched  to  prevent  its  arrogating  to 
itself  any  powers  which  would  tend  to  the  crea- 
tion of  a  national  Church  by  gathering  together 
its  scattered  members  and  articulating  them. 
And  to  the  prevalence  of  this  false  idea  of 
Churchmanship  the  legislation  of  the  General 
Convention  had  contributed  not  a  little  by  recog- 
nizing the  Church  in  "States"  but  not  (save  in 
the  single  instance  above  noted)  in  "  dioceses." 

Matters  were,  however,  already  beginning  to 
move  towards  a  proper  centralization  of  the 
Church.  Thoughtful  Churchmen,  with  clear 
ideas  of  Church  polity,  and  capable  of  taking  the 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  75 

leadership  in  whatever  required  readjustment  in 
the  Church,  had  been  advanced  to  the  Episcopate 
since  the  days  of  Hobart.  The  General  Conven- 
tion was  beginning  to  exercise  powers  which 
had  at  first  been  denied  it  as  belonging  exclu- 
sively to  the  separate  "State"  Churches.  And 
two  years  later  all  of  its  deliberations  implied 
that  its  constituents  had  begun  to  realize  that 
there  existed  in  America,  not  an  agglomeration 
of  "State"  Churches,  but  a  national  Church; 
though  it  was  not  until  the  next  General  Con- 
vention, (that  of  1838,)  that  the  word  "  diocese  " 
supplanted  "State"  in  the  first  four  articles  of 
the  constitution  of  that  body  and  the  idea  was 
fully  grasped  that  an  ecclesiastical  body  and  not 
a  political  division  furnished  the  unit  of  eccle- 
siastical government  in  the  Church  in  America.* 
Perhaps  this  is  the  only  relation  which  the 
Church  in  Tennessee  sustained  at  this  time  to  the 
important  movement  then  in  progress  in  England 
which  was  later  known  as  the  Tractarian  or  the 


*The  present  writer  has  hopelessly  lost  the  authorities  which 
should  be  given  for  the  statements  here  made,  and  prob- 
ably for  much  of  the  language  used  in  setting  forth  these  state- 
ments. They  occur  in  notes  made  in  the  course  of  the  study 
of  another  subject  several  years  ago.  The  subject  then  in  hand 
required  no  specific  citation  of  authorities.  Hence  none  was 
preserved.  If  any  reader  recognizes  the  above  language  as 
appearing  elsewhere  in  print  a  favor  will  be  conferred  by  com- 
municating the  fact  to  the  writer. 


76  HISTORY    OF    THE    CHURCH    IN 

Oxford  movement.  That  movement  had  begun 
to  make  men  on  this  side  of  the  water  think,  and 
as  a  result  of  their  thinking  they  were  learning 
far  more  about  the  Church  than  they  had  ever 
before  known. 

It  had  been,  in  spite  of  the  previous  inability  of 
the  Church  in  America,  implied  in  the  conditions 
above  suggested,  to  adjust  her  machinery  to  pro- 
visions for  the  spiritual  needs  of  her  children  as 
they  followed  the  tide  of  colonization  westward 
beyond  the  Alleghanies,  that  she  had  been  organ- 
ized in  Ohio,  Kentucky  and  in  Tennessee.  In 
the  last  named  State  it  had  been  due,  as  we  have 
seen,  to  the  missionary  enterprise  of  Mr.  Otey. 
Four  years  after  the  organization  had  been  effected 
it  could  but  be  felt  that,  with  an  Episcopal  head, 
the  diocese  (for  such  it  was  in  fact  though 
generally  denied  the  name),  could  accomplish 
far  more  work.  Possibly  if  the  Churchmen  in 
Tennessee  had  been  able  to  forecast  the  trend 
of  events,  they  might  have  exercised  their  pa- 
tience for  another  year  and  a  half,  and  then  taken 
advantage  of  the  legislation  of  the  General  Con- 
vention of  1835,  which  provided  that  on  the  re- 
quest of  any  diocese,  however  small  its  clergy 
list  and  however  fev/  its  parishes,  the  House  of 
Bishops  might  nominate  a  Bishop  to  be  confirmed 
by  the  House  of  Deputies,  or  (if  the  election  oc- 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  77 

curved  in  the  recess  of  the  General  Convention) 
by  the  several  Standing  Committees. 

It  would  be  idle  to  speculate  what  might  have 
been  the  outcome  of  waiting  for  this  enabling 
legislation,  or  of  waiting  to  be  able  to  comply 
more  fully  with  the  canonical  requirements  then 
in  force  regarding  the  election  of  a  Bishop  in  a 
diocese.  The  Church  in  Tennessee  is  too  well 
satisfied  with  the  result  of  the  action  then  taken 
to  inquire  too  closely  into  its  strict  conformity  to 
the  letter  of  laws  which  in  their  spirit  were  in- 
tended to  advance  the  progress  of  the  Church, 
not  to  retard  it.  It  was  then  from  reasons  of 
prudence  required  by  the  canons  that  no  diocese 
be  allowed  to  proceed  to  the  election  of  a  Bishop 
until  there  were  six  presbyters  in  charge  of 
parishes  duly  settled  in  the  diocese  for  one  year, 
and  until  there  should  be  twelve  duly  organized 
parishes  therein. 

There  were  eight  clergymen  at  work  in  Ten- 
nessee in  1833,  but  of  these  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Wright,  a  presbyter,  and  the  Rev.  John  H.  Nor- 
ment,  a  deacon,  were  canonically  resident  in 
North  Carolina,  and  the  Rev.  Albert  Arney  Mul- 
ler,  D.D.,  who  had  been  elected  rector  of  Trinity 
Church,  Clarksville,  had  not  been  a  year  in  resi- 
dence. But  the  need  of  a  Bishop  was  now  felt 
to  be  so  great  that  it  was  thought  unnecessary 


78  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

to  construe  canonical  restrictions  too  severely, 
and  due  notice  was  given  of  a  convention  of  the 
diocese  to  meet  in  Franklin  in  June,  1833,  for  the 
purpose  of  electing  a  Bishop. 

The  convention  met  accordingly.  The  Rev. 
Dr.  Stephens  presided.  Mr.  Godfrey  M.  Fogg 
was  chosen  as  secretary.  After  the  new  parishes, 
organized  in  the  Western  District  during  the 
previous  year,  had  been  formally  admitted  to 
union  with  the  diocese  the  number  of  parishes 
was  but  nine. 

On  the  27th  of  ]une  the  convention  proceeded 
to  the  election  of  a  Bishop.  On  the  first  ballot 
Mr.  Otey  received  the  votes  of  all  the  clergy  ex- 
cepting his  own  and  Dr.  Weller's,  which  were 
cast  for  the  Rev.  William  Mercer  Green.  The 
nine  laymen  present  voted  unanimously  in  con- 
firmation of  the  election  of  Mr.  Otey.  The  tes- 
timonial of  the  Bishop-elect  was  signed  by  the 
Rev.  Daniel  Stephens,  D.D.,  the  Rev.  George 
Weller,  D.D,  the  Rev.  Albert  A.  Muller,  D.D., 
the  Rev.  John  Chilton,  the  Rev.  Samuel  G.  Lit- 
ton; Messrs.  John  C.  Wormley  and  George  C. 
Skipwith,  of  Columbia,  William  G.  Dickinson, 
B.  S.  Tappan  and  Thomas  Maney,  of  Franklin; 
Matthew  Watson,  Godfrey  M.  Fogg  and  Francis 
B.  Fogg,  of  Nashville,  and  John  Anderson,  of  La 
Grange. 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  79 

During  the  months  that  followed  there  was  a 
scourge  of  cholera  in  Nashville  and  in  Memphis, 
prophetic  of  one  of  the  characteristics  of  the 
Diocese  of  Tennessee  throughout  its  history. 
There  was  no  little  anxiety  as  to  the  manner  in 
which  the  Church  in  other  dioceses  would  regard 
the  action  of  the  convention  in  Franklin.  South 
Carolina  declined  to  consent  to  the  consecration 
of  Mr.  Otey  on  the  grounds  that  Tennessee  had 
not  the  canonical  number  of  parishes  and  pres- 
byters to  elect.  Three  dioceses,  Maine,  New 
Jersey  and  Georgia,  were  asking  for  further  time 
for  the  consideration  of  the  subject,  as  late  as 
September.  But  later  the  consent  of  a  majority 
of  the  dioceses  (which  seemed  not  inclined  to 
force  too  strict  a  construction  of  the  canons  in 
such  an  exigency  to  the  manifest  detriment  of 
the  Church's  advance),  was  obtained,  and  the 
Presiding  Bishop  took  order  for  the  consecra- 
tion. 

Mr.  Otey  was  disappointed,  however,  of  his 
hope  of  going  to  Philadelphia  for  consecration 
before  the  Winter  set  in.  He  had  never  before 
been  outside  of  the  three  States,  Virginia,  North 
Carolina  and  Tennessee,  and  was  apprehensive 
of  the  effects  of  a  visit  to  a  northern  State  dur- 
ing the  cold  weather.  It  was  on  the  14th  of 
January,  1834,  that  he  was  consecrated  in  Christ 


8o  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH   IN 

Church,  Philadelphia,  by  the  venerable  Bishop 
White,  Presiding  Bishop,  assisted  by  Bishops 
Onderdonk  of  Pennsylvania,  his  brother  of  New 
York,  and  Doane  of  New  Jersey.  The  last 
named  preached  the  sermon.  In  the  course 
thereof  he  said: 

"  There  is  a  common  notion  that  Bishops  are 
stately  persons,  and  that  large  salaries,  noble  ed- 
ifices and  splendid  equipages  are  somehow  an 
essential  appendage  of  their  office.  But  here  is  a 
Bishop  who  has  never  had  a  Church  to  preach  in, 
and  has  never  yet  had  a  living  at  the  altar,  but  has 
been  obliged  to  labor  for  his  children's  bread  in 
the  laborious  though  most  honorable  vocation  of 
teaching;  spending  five  days  out  of  seven  in  a 
school,  and  for  years  has  not  had  a  month's  re- 
laxation." * 

Yet  for  all  that,  though  Bishop  Otey  was  able 
to  adapt  himself  to  the  crude  conditions  of  civ- 
ilization that  prevailed  in  his  diocese  and  was 
able  to  "endure  hardness  as  a  good  soldier  of 
Jesus  Christ,"  he  was  never  unmindful  of  the 
dignity  of  the  high  office  to  which  he  was  now 
called,  nor  was  his  conduct  therein  ever  such  as 
to  lower  its  dignity  in  the  eyes  of  others.     He 


*  So  reported  by  my  predecessor,  the  late  P.  M.  Radford.  I 
do  not  find  the  words  in  the  sermon  as  published  in  the  Bishop 
of  Albany's  "  Life  and  Letters  of  Bishop  Doane." 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  8 1 

was  six  feet  four  inches  in  height  and  well  pro- 
portioned throughout.  And  not  only  from  his 
unusual  size  but  from  his  whole  appearance  and 
especially  from  his  general  bearing  and  de- 
meanor he  was  one  to  attract  attention  any- 
where. His  visit  to  England  in  1851  and  his 
meeting  there  with  the  Bishops  of  the  English 
Church,  were  severe  tests  of  his  possession  of 
those  qualities  which  are  rightly  demanded  of  a 
Bishop;  and  he  stood  the  tests  well.  Columbia 
College  in  1833  bore  testimony  to  the  quality  of 
his  scholarship  by  conferring  upon  him  the  de- 
gree of  S.T.D. 

At  his  consecration  Bishop  Otey  became  the 
thirtieth  in  the  line  of  the  American  Episcopate 
and  raised  the  number  of  Bishops  then  living  to 
sixteen.  He  was  with  two  exceptions,  the 
youngest  Bishop  consecrated  up  to  that  time  in 
the  American  Church,  being  within  a  few  days 
of  thirty-four  years  of  age. 


82  HISTORY  OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

CHAPTER    VII. 

A   DAY   OF  SMALL   THINGS. 

Returning  to  Tennessee  after  his  consecration, 
Bishop  Otey  was  able  to  number  five  priests  and 
three  deacons  upon  his  clergy  list  within  the  fol- 
lowing year;  and  of  actual  communicants  of  the 
Church  there  were  about  one  hundred  and  sev- 
enteen. With  that  energy  and  wisdom  which 
had  marked  his  career  as  deacon  and  priest  and 
now  gave  character  to  his  Episcopate,  he  began 
at  once  measures  for  the  advancement  of  the 
Church.  He  was  young,  and  at  that  time  in  ro- 
bust health.  It  was  not  until  after  years  of  most 
wearing  toil,  part  of  which  time  he  had  charge 
of  the  Diocese  of  Mississippi  as  Provisional 
Bishop,  and  in  which  he  undertook  journeys, 
filled  with  adventures,  through  Alabama,  Florida 
and  Georgia,  and  answered  the  claims  for  work 
over  a  vast  field  extending  from  Kentucky  and 
Missouri  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  between 
Florida  and  the  Pacific,  that  he  became  a  prey  to 
dyspepsia  and  we  find  him  noting  in  his  diary 
from  time  to  time  the  restraints  placed  by  failure 
of  health,  upon  his  putting  some  of  his  grand 
plans  into  effect. 


THE   DIOCESE  OF  TENNESSEE.  83 

He  at  once  established  the  custom,  (and  he 
continued  it  as  long  as  he  was  able  to  do  so,)  in 
visiting  the  congregations  in  his  diocese,  to  as- 
semble as  many  of  the  clergy  as  could  meet  to- 
gether with  convenience,  and  try  the  effect  of 
continued  religious  services  for  several  days  to- 
gether. Thus  were  instituted  what  in  these 
days  would  be  called  "missions."  But  the 
Bishop,  although  having  reason  to  believe  that 
this  course  was  attended  in  some  instances  with 
happy  results,  did  not  regard  it  as  "to  be  relied 
upon  as  better  than  the  regular  and  systematic 
inculcation  of  divine  truth  from  week  to  week, 
in  the  stated  ministrations  of  the  parochial 
clergy;"  and  felt  that  it  would  be  better  on  the 
whole  to  let  the  Bishop,  when  he  came,  pass  on 
after  performing  the  duties  strictly  pertaining  to 
his  office,  without  laying  upon  him  the  burden 
of  so  much  preaching  as  was  then  expected  of 
him  at  his  visitations. 

It  is  significant  of  the  primitive  conditions  of 
life  in  Tennessee  before  the  middle  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  and  not  a  premonition  of  the 
"ritualism"  subsequently  grafted  upon  the 
Church  life  in  this  country,  that  we  read  fre- 
quent notices  of  services  to  be  held  at  "candle- 
light." Yet  as  we  read  of  the  struggles  of  those 
who   were   laboring   for  the  upbuilding  of  the 


84  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH    IN 

Church  in  that  wilderness,  the  noble  Bishop  and 
his  devoted  band  of  clergy,  of  the  Apostolic 
journeys  they  made  and  their  earnest  efforts  to 
win  people  we  cannot  avoid  finding  analogies  in 
that  age  when  the  lighting  of  candles  suggested 
to  the  Greek  Christians  evening  hymns  of  praise 
to  the  Triune  God. 

The  annual  conventions  of  the  diocese  were 
made  the  means  of  disseminating  a  knowledge 
of  the  Church  in  such  centres  of  population  as 
Jackson,  Pulaski,  Nashville,  Clarksville,  Ran- 
dolph, La  Grange,  Columbia,  Bolivar,  Knoxville 
and  Franklin.  Some  of  these  towns  at  the  time 
of  the  first  meeting  of  the  convention  therein, 
were  wholly  without  Church  buildings  or  even 
without  organized  parishes.  In  such  cases 
Court  houses  were  used  for  the  purpose,  and  in 
some  instances  Presbyterians  or  Methodists 
graciously  loaned  their  places  of  worship  with- 
out hope  of  reward. 

The  conventions  lasted  for  several  days,  some- 
times for  a  whole  week.  Morning  and  evening 
prayer  would  be  said  daily  and  a  sermon  was 
preached  every  night.  The  Sunday  included  in 
the  time  of  holding  the  convention  would  be 
"improved"  by  services  in  which  the  Church 
was  prominently  set  before  the  people.  The  or- 
dinations (which  averaged   two   a  year  during 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  »5 

the  Episcopate  of  Bishop  Otey),  were  sometimes 
held  on  these  occasions  in  order  that  the  people 
might  have  the  fullest  instruction  possible  in  the 
character  and  purpose  of  the  ministry  of  the 
Church. 

By  all  these  means  all  portions  of  the  State, 
and  towns,  large  and  small,  had  abundant  oppor- 
tunities to  "hear  the  Church."  How  meagerly 
the  people  availed  themselves  of  the  opportuni- 
ties is  apparent  from  some  comments  the  Bishop 
makes  in  his  official  diaries  from  time  to  time 
and  more  particularly  from  the  words  of  his  ad- 
dress before  the  twenty-third  annual  convention 
held  in  1856,  and  the  action  taken  thereon  by  a 
committee  appointed  to  consider  the  same  and 
report. 

The  preaching  of  the  Church  was  in  those 
days  direct  and  clear.  Otey's  trumpet  had  been 
attuned  to  that  of  Ravenscroft  and  so  was  in  ac- 
cord with  those  of  Hobart,  the  Onderdonks  and 
Doane;  and  when  he  put  his  lips  to  it,  it  gave 
forth  no  uncertain  sound.  The  clergy  he  gath- 
ered about  him  were  likewise  fearless  in  speak- 
ing the  truth.  It  was  a  time  more  tolerant  of 
logical,  didactic  sermons  than  is  the  present, 
though  undoubtedly  the  sermons  which  Bishop 
Otey  and  his  clergy  delivered,    were,   in   their 


86  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

enunciation  of  Church  principles,  in  advance  of 
the  times. 

In  1839  the  Rev.  Mr.  Litton  preached  a  ser- 
mon on  "  Christ  and  the  Church  "  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  eleventh  annual  convention  of  the 
diocese  in  Randolph,  it  was  a  bold  statement 
of  Church  principles  and  was  subsequently  pub- 
lished at  the  request  of  some  who  heard  it. 
This  invited  a  reply  from  the  Presbyterian  min- 
ister in  Randolph,  which  was  also  published  and 
contained  the  Presbyterian  arguments  then  in 
vogue  against  Episcopacy,  but  which  have  since 
been  abandoned.  To  this  reply  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Alston  published  a  most  conclusive  rejoinder; 
but  of  course  with  the  usual  result  of  convincing 
men  against  their  will. 

Three  years  later  the  Bishop  preached  three 
sermons  in  St.  Peter's  Church,  Columbia,  on 
"The  Unity  of  the  Church,"  "The  Ministry," 
and  "The  Apostolical  Succession."  The  fol- 
lowing year  they  were  published  with  notes  and 
an  appendix  containing  corroborative  evidence 
of  the  arguments  he  used.  They  created  among 
the  various  denominations  represented  in  Ten- 
nessee and  neighboring  States,  a  sensation  out 
of  all  proportion  to  the  numerical  importance  of 
the  Church  whose  principles  they  so  boldly 
proclaimed.     These  various  denominations  were 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  87 

far  from  being  at  peace  with  each  other  and 
were  even  then  about  to  break  into  pieces  upon 
a  religio-political  question.  Yet  these  sermons 
furnished  the  occasion  for  them  to  "cast  their 
heads  together  with  one  consent  "  and  to  "  con- 
federate against "  the  Church  in  a  more  active 
and  open  warfare  than  they  had  before  pursued. 
These  incidents  unquestionably  retarded  the 
numerical  growth  of  the  Church  in  Tennessee. 
But  they  are  by  no  means  to  be  deplored.  By 
her  very  constitution  the  Church  was  precluded 
from  resort  to  those  popular  methods  by  which 
numerical  increase  is  insured  to  the  neglect  of  the 
true  mission  of  the  Church;  by  her  spirit  and 
genius  she  is  precluded  from  entertaining  mere 
numerical  increase  as  a  sole  motive  for  her  work. 
And  if  the  Church  excited  enmity  by  the  frank 
declaration  of  her  principles,  it  was  a  far  more 
honest  course  to  pursue  than  to  seek  to  win  al- 
legiance by  false  representation  of  herself  and 
by  concealment  of  her  principles.  She  pursued 
the  Gospel  method.  Her  Lord  had  contented 
Himself  with  few  followers,  so  that  they  might 
know  Him  and  His  Father's  will.  And  one  who 
thought  he  saw  the  promise  of  a  future  tri- 
umphant party  in  the  followers  of  Jesus  of  Naz- 
areth, was  turned  back  by  the  Master's  own 
word — and  he  was  a  rich  man  too. 


88  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   IN 

The  diocese  was  missionary  ground  and 
Bishop  Otey  was  as  truly  a  Missionary  Bishop  as 
Kemper  or  any  since  his  time.  He  gives  in  his 
convention  address  in  1856  an  account  of 
services  then  recently  held  in  East  Tennessee, 
which  illustrated  the  character  of  the  field  in 
which  he  had  to  labor.  The  room  (it  was  the 
Court  room  of  a  county  town),  he  tells  us,  was 
filled  with  people,  but  they  had  been  drawn  to- 
gether by  curiosity  to  witness  something  novel 
or  to  hear  "  preaching."  They  had  not  come  to 
worship.  They  seemed  not  disposed  to  take  the 
Prayer  Books  offered  them,  never  recognizing 
that  they  had  the  same  right  of  inheritance  in 
that  book  as  in  the  Bible.  There  were  no  re- 
sponses to  the  prayers  save  from  the  clergy  who 
were  present;  and  when  the  congregation  was 
called  upon  to  unite  with  the  clergy  in  praise  by 
singing  a  psalm,  only  a  voice  here  and  there  re- 
sponded. And  the  Bishop  regarded  the  neglect 
of  worship  as  the  "prevailing  characteristic  of 
the  population  throughout  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  land."  He  gratified  the  desire  of  the 
people  to  "hear  preaching,"  but  felt  that  he 
was  but  the  "  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilder- 
ness." 

And  such  was  a  fair  sample  of  much  of  the 
Church's  effort.     But  it  had  been   foreseen  and 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  89 

foretold  by  the  Divine  Founder  of  tine  Church: 
"Behold  a  sower  went  forth  to  sow;  and  when 
he  sowed,  some  seeds  fell  by  the  wayside; 
.     .     .     some  fell  upon  stony  places." 

During  the  first  fifteen  years  of  Bishop  Otey's 
Episcopate  the  average  confirmations  performed 
by  him  was  fifty  annually.  Between  1850  and  i860 
the  average  was  one  hundred  and  fifteen.  In 
1844,  ten  years  after  his  consecration  there  were 
fifteen  resident  clergymen  at  work  in  Tennessee 
and  about  four  hundred  communicants.  Ten 
years  later  there  were  seventeen  clergymen, 
seventeen  parishes  and  about  eight  hundred 
communicants.  In  i860  the  clergy  numbered 
twenty-seven,  the  organized  parishes  twenty- 
six  and  the  communicants  fifteen  hundred. 

It  will  be  noted  that  there  is  a  discrepancy  be- 
tween the  total  number  of  confirmations  thus 
given  and  the  figures  denoting  the  increase  in 
the  number  of  communicants.  The  latter  did 
not  keep  pace  with  the  former  by  nearly  five 
hundred.  This  is  not  wholly  accounted  for  by 
the  deaths  occurring  in  the  Church  during  the 
Episcopate  of  Bishop  Otey.  Though  the  num- 
ber of  deaths  must  have  been  great  for  that 
period  included  years  when  plagues  and  pesti- 
lences visited  the  country  and  by  ravages  in 
Tennessee  impressed  upon  the  diocese  one  of  its 


90  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

chief  distinctions.  Yet  in  these  epidemics  the 
Church  usually  found  her  opportunity,  and  her 
clergy,  by  standing  bravely  at  their  posts,  estab- 
lished traditions  that  were  fearlessly  followed 
in  the  post  belliim  period.  But  the  loss  of 
nearly  five  hundred  communicants  out  of  two 
thousand  confirmations  and  an  unknown  num- 
ber of  Church  immigrants,  is  accounted  for  by 
removals  from  the  State,  a  habit  of  Tennessee 
Churchmen  which  more  seriously  affected  the 
numerical  growth  of  the  diocese  in  a  later 
period. 

Those  early  days  included  the  great  finan- 
cial depression  of  1837  and  all  that  followed 
iri  its  track.  Yet  it  was  in  a  subsequent  period 
of  financial  prosperity  that  the  Bishop  appears  to 
have  been  the  more  disheartened  in  regard  to  the 
growth  of  the  Church.  In  1856  he  had  con- 
firmed but  one  hundred  persons.  It  seemed  a 
small  return  for  the  great  amount  of  labor  be- 
stowed. One  of  the  obstacles  to  his  success 
that  year,  he  thought,  was  the  prosperity  all  were 
enjoying;  and  he  reminded  the  clergy  and  laity 
then  gathered  in  convention  of  a  "truth  estab- 
lished by  all  history  and  proven  by  all  experi- 
ence, that  a  very  prosperous  worldly  condition 
and  high  attainments  in  the  Divine  life  very 
rarely  consist  together."     At  the  same  time  the 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  9 1 

exceeding  difficulty  and  unpropitiousness  of  the 
field  given  him  and  his  clergy  to  cultivate,  re- 
curs to  him  and  he  states  that  he  has  known  for 
many  years  "that  anamount  of  prejudice,  ignor- 
ance and  prepossession  prevailed  in  this  diocese 
respecting  our  communion,  unequalled  in  any 
other  State  of  the  Union." 

It  was  to  combat  this  ignorant  prejudice  that 
a  Diocesan  Book  Society  was  organized  in  1858 
chiefly  through  the  efforts  of  the  Rev.  Charles 
Todd  Quintard,  M.D.,  who  had  then  recently 
abandoned  a  lucrative  medical  practice  to  adorn 
the  ministry  of  the  Church  in  Tennessee.  The 
Society  succeeded  in  establishing  depositories 
for  the  sale  of  Church  books  and  tracts,  first  at 
Memphis  and  afterwards  in  Nashville  and  Knox- 
ville,  and  was  making  fair  progress  when  the 
period  now  under  review  was  brought  to  an  end 
by  the  war  beginning  in  1861,  and  by  the  death 
of  Bishop  Otey  in  1863. 

The  early  conventions  of  the  diocese  included 
meetings  of  the  Diocesan  Missionary  Society, 
and  the  brief  minutes  of  these  meetings  were 
published  with  the  journals  of  the  convention. 
The  meeting  answered  very  well  to  the  Mission- 
ary Meeting  now  held  on  the  last  evening  of  a 
Diocesan  Convention,  though  the  latter  is  not 
the  direct  successor  of  the  former,  but  is  of  in- 


92  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

dependent  origin.  In  the  "day  of  small 
things  "  the  treasurer  reported  something  like  a 
hundred  dollars  from  regular  subscribers  to  the 
society  and  from  the  offerings  during  the  con- 
vention. After  a  few  years  the  minutes  of  a 
formal  meeting  of  the  society  disappear  from  the 
journal  though  the  list  of  subscribers  is  continued 
for  several  years  longer  and  increases  in  length. 
Bishop  Otey  ordained  to  both  the  diaconate 
and  to  the  priesthood  seventeen  men;  to  the  di- 
aconate alone,  nine;  and  to  the  priesthood  alone, 
twenty-six.  There  were  some  ordinations  for 
Tennessee  by  Bishops  Kemper,  Green  and  Smith 
in  the  period  between  i860  and  1865.  Some  of 
these  ordinations  were  of  native  Tennesseeans. 
But  the  Bishop  was  receiving  and  dismissing 
every  year  several  deacons  or  priests,  so  that  the 
clergy  list  of  the  diocese  down  to  the  year  iS'-'O 
comprises  nearly  one  hundred  names.  It  is  gen- 
erally supposed  that  his  inability  to  hold  the 
clergy  for  a  longer  time  proceeded  from  an  in- 
sufficiency of  support.  Yet  in  i860  there  were 
reported  by  the  Committee  on  the  State  of  the 
Church,  three  parishes  paying  (or  promising) 
their  rectors  salaries  of  two  thousand  dollars; 
one  paying  fifteen  hundred  dollars,  and  four 
one  thousand  dollars  each.  These  last  included 
such    small    towns   as    Columbia    and   Somer- 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  93 

ville.  There  were  few  cases  of  rectories  pro- 
vided for  the  clergy.  In  nearly  every  case  the 
clergy  had  to  follow  the  example  of  the  Bishop 
and  eke  out  a  living  by  teaching  five  days 
in  the  week.  Then  the  constant  shifting  of  the 
clergy  is  partially  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that 
there  were  some  on  the  clergy  lists  who  as  in- 
valids were  attracted  to  Tennessee,  where  they 
hoped  to  find  a  semi-tropical  climate  and  were 
driven  further  south  by  early  frosts  the  year  of 
their  arrival. 

The  Bishop  suffered  keenly  the  loss  of  several 
of  his  clergy  by  death.  He  suffered  still  more 
keenly  the  necessity  laid  upon  him  of  disciplin- 
ing other  clergymen.  No  less  than  seven  left 
the  ministry  either  by  renunciation  or  by  de- 
position. Those  were  the  days  before  the  cus- 
tom arose  among  Bishops  of  gently  shoving  an 
unworthy  cleric  from  one  diocese  into  another 
to  avoid  the  inconvenience  of  an  ecclesiastical 
trial.  The  patient  but  upright  Bishop  was  com- 
pelled to  exercise  discipline  so  often  that  one  of 
his  clergy  was  forced  to  sigh,  as  he  glanced  over 
the  clergy  list,  "  Bad  men  come  here  to  be  dis- 
ciplined; good  men  come  here  to  die!" 


94  HISTORY    OF    THE    CHURCH    IN 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

MISSION   WORK   AND    PAROCHIAL    INCREASE. 

For  three  years,  Christ  Church,  Nashville,  en- 
joyed the  distinction  of  possessing  the  only 
Church  edifice  in  the  diocese.  St.  Peter's 
Church,  Columbia,  was  completed  and  conse- 
crated in  1834;  St.  Paul's  Church,  Franklin, 
completed  in  1834,  was  consecrated  the  follow- 
ing year.*  Trinity  Church,  Clarksville,  was  com- 
pleted and  consecrated  in  1838. 

St.  Paul's  Church,  Franklin,  although  the  first 
organized  of  the  parishes  in  Tennessee,  suffered 
greatly  by  the  resignation  of  the  rectorship  by 
Bishop  Otey  in  1835.  The  Rev.  Hamble  James 
Leacock  was  locum  tenens  for  two  years  subse- 
quently. The  removal  of  many  of  the  Church 
people  from  Franklin  was  causing  the  parish  to 


*"The  edifice  is  commodious  and  beautiful,  built  after  the 
Gothic  style,  with  galleries  on  the  sides,  and  an  organ-loft. 
The  present  of  a  large  and  fine-toned  bell  has  been  made  to 
this  Church  by  H.  R.  W.  Hill,  Esq.,  of  Nashville."  Conv. 
Ad.  Bishop  Otey,  1836.  This  building  required  repairs  in  1849, 
again  in  1854,  ^nd  again  in  1857.  "^  was  reported  in  a  state  of 
dilapidation  in  1869  and  was  "  restored  "  and  consecrated  by 
Bishop  Quintard,  in  1871.  The  rectory  was  built  subsequent 
to  the  war. 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  95 

go  down,  and  when  in  1841  the  Rev,  W.  P. 
Saunders  was  appointed  Missionary  in  Charge, 
there  was  but  one  male  communicant  in  the 
parish  and  there  were  but  few  women  commu- 
nicants. There  being  no  material  out  of  which 
to  elect  a  vestry,  the  parochial  organization  had 
been  suffered  to  lapse.  Saunders  was  succeeded 
by  the  Rev.  Samuel  Sherwell,  and  he  by  the 
Rev.  James  W.  Rogers  in  1847.  The  parish 
was  reorganized  in  1849.  ^t  had  then  about 
eighteen  communicants. 

There  came  to  settle  upon  his  family  estates 
in  Maury  County,  in  1833,  the  Rev.  Leonidas 
Polk.  The  purpose  he  had  in  view  was  the 
complete  restoration  of  his  health,  which  had 
been  impaired,  and  had  only  been  partially  re- 
stored by  a  recent  trip  abroad.  He  was  a  man 
of  a  remarkable  history.  He  was  a  graduate  of 
West  Point,  where,  under  the  influence  of  Dr. 
Mcllvaine,  then  chaplain  of  the  United  States 
Military  Academy  and  afterwards  Bishop  of 
Ohio,  he  had  been  baptized  and  confirmed. 
Soon  after  his  graduation  he  had  resigned  the 
army  and  prepared  for  holy  orders.  He  was 
placed  in  charge  of  St.  Peter's  Church,  Columbia, 
upon  his  coming  to  Tennessee,  and  remained 
rector  until  his  election  by  the  General  Conven- 
tion, in  1838,  to  be   Missionary   Bishop   of  the 


96  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH    IN 

Southwest.  Bishop  Otey,  upon  leaving  Frank- 
Un,  in  1835,  fixed  his  residence  in  Columbia  and 
opened  a  school  for  boys  in  his  own  house, 
which  he  called  "  Mercer  Hall,"  after  his  friend 
and  benefactor,  Dr.  Mercer,  of  New  Orleans, 
whose  praise  is  in  all  the  Churches  of  the  South. 
The  Bishop  succeeded  the  Rev.  Mr.  Polk  in  the 
rectorship  of  the  parish  in  1838  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wheat,  who  came  from 
Nashville  in  1849  to  assist  the  Bishop  in  his  ed- 
ucational enterprises. 

The  Bishop  resumed  charge  of  the  parish  on 
the  I  St  of  January,  1850.  Three  years  later,  the 
Rev.  David  Pise,  D.D.,  came  from  the  princi- 
palshipof  Millwood  Academy,  Davidson  County, 
to  take  charge  of  the  Columbia  Female  Institute 
and  the  rectorship  of  St.  Peter's  Church.  But 
though  Columbia  was  all  the  while  a  centre  of 
the  Church's  educational  work,  St.  Peter's 
Church  progressed  but  slowly,  and  in  1850 
there  were  but  eighteen  communicants.  The 
town,  like  Franklin,  was  never  large. 

Even  Christ  Church,  Nashville,  with  a  town 
back  of  it  coming  into  some  prominence  as  a 
State  capital,  was  not  flourishing  to  the  extent 
that  was  to  be  expected.  At  the  end  of  five 
years  of  persistent  efforts  for  the  advancement 
of  the  Church,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Weller  was  able  to 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  97 

report  having  baptized  forty-seven  children  and 
six  adults,  and  presented  twenty-eight  persons 
for  confirmation.  The  congregation  comprised 
about  forty  families  and  the  number  of  commu- 
nicants was  greater  than  the  whole  number  of 
persons  attendant  upon  his  ministry  at  the  begin- 
ning. Yet  he  was  compelled  to  resign  the  rec- 
torship of  the  parish  in  1837  because  of  the 
inability  of  the  congregation  to  support  him  and 
his  family,  and  because  the  labor  of  teaching 
school  in  connection  with  his  parochial  work 
was  too  great. 

He  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  J.  Thomas 
Wheat,  who,  though  a  North  Carolinian,  received 
his  deacon's  orders  from  the  Bishop  of  Virginia 
and  now  came  from  the  Diocese  of  Ohio.  He 
was  eloquent,  affable,  zealous  and  progressive. 
He  instituted  the  weekly  offertory,  an  unpopular 
"innovation"  in  those  days,  and  in  1843  estab- 
lished a  parochial  school  for  girls.  He  reported 
one  hundred  and  sixteen  communicants  in  1844. 
He  resigned  in  1848  and  removed  to  Columbia. 

Under  less  favorable  circumstances  outwardly, 
Trinity  Church,  Clarksville,  was  manifesting 
more  encouraging  signs  of  progress  than  any  of 
the  other  parishes  in  Middle  Tennessee  during 
this  period.  Dr.  Muller,  the  rector,  extended  his 
labors  to  the  employes  of  the  Cumberland  Iron 


98  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH    IN 

Works  in  Stewart  County,  and  erected  there  a 
chapel  in  which  services  were  held.  He  was 
deposed  from  the  ministry  in  1841  after  an 
ecclesiastical  trial,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev. 
E.  Harrison  Cressey,  who  was  in  his  turn  suc- 
ceeded in  1845  by  the  Rev.  William  Croes  Crane, 
from  the  Diocese  of  Mississippi.  He  was  a 
native  of  New  Jersey,  a  nephew  and  namesake 
of  the  first  Bishop  of  that  diocese,  and  received 
his  deacon's  orders  from  the  second  Bishop  there- 
of. He  was  a  man  greatly  beloved  and  con- 
tinued in  the  rectorship  of  Trinity  Church, 
Clarksville,*  until  1850,  and  was  then  succeeded 
by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  James  Ridley. 


*In  1845,  ^i"-  Thomas  Fraser,  Senior  Warden  of  Trinity 
Church,  Clarksville,  died.  He  willed  to  the  parish  certain 
property,  a  record  of  which  is  made  in  the  vestry  book  and  I 
quote  it,  for  in  the  light  of  history,  it  reads  oddly,  in  his  will 
item  11.  is  as  follows:  "It  is  my  will  that  my  servants,  by  name, 
Austin,  a  blacksmith  by  trade;  Betsey  and  her  children,  Henry, 
Austin,  Jr.,  John  and  an  infant,  Peter,  Mary  Jane  and  Betsey 
Ann,  with  all  their  future  increase,  and  my  stock  in  the  Rus- 
sellville  and  Clarksville  Turnpike  Company,  consisting  of 
twenty  shares  and  the  dividends  that  may  be  from  time  to 
time  declared  on  the  same,  be  vested  by  my  executors  for  the 
benefit  of  Trinity  Church,  Clarksville,  Tennessee,  as  a  perpetual 
fund.  The  hire  of  the  negroes  and  the  dividends  of  the  stock 
aforesaid  annually  arising,  to  be  appropriated  by  the  vestry  and 
their  successors  in  the  following  manner: 

"First.  That  the  vestry  shall  lay  out  twenty-five  dollars  in 
books  for  the  Sunday  School  of  said  Church;  after  which  the 
said  vestry  shall  appropriate  the  one  half  of  the  residue  of  such 
annual  fund  for  the  support  of  the  rector  of  said  Church  an- 


THE   DIOCESE  OF   TENNESSEE.  99 

In  the  neighborhood  of  Columbia  two  mis- 
sionary enterprises  were  established  during  the 
period  now  under  consideration,  which  for  a 
while  added  to  the  parochial  strength  of  the  dio- 
cese. They  were  St.  Mark's  Church,  Williams- 
port,  and  St.  John's  Church,  Ashwood. 

Williamsport  is  a  village  about  ten  miles  down 
Duck  River  from  Columbia.  It  had  been  settled 
by   people   from  the    Eastern   States   who   had 

nually,  or  withhold  it  at  their  discretion,  two-thirds  of  the 
whole  number  of  the  vestry  concurring,  and  annually  the  said 
vestry  shall  appropriate  the  said  residue  of  said  annual  fund 
towards  the  finishing  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Clarksville, 
and  keeping  the  lot  in  order,  building  a  parsonage  on  said  lot, 
and  keeping  the  same  in  order.  And  when  all  this  shall  be 
done,  I  desire  the  vestry  to  purchase  a  suitable  lot  in  Clarks- 
ville and  build  a  female  academy  out  of  said  annual  fund,  to  be 
under  the  control  of  said  vestry  as  the  trustees  of  the  same, 
which  shall  be  called  the  Female  Academy  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  of  Clarksville.  And  after  the  completion  of  the  several 
objects  aforesaid,  I  desire  said  annual  fund  shall  constitute  an 
endowment  for  said  academy  to  be  under  the  control  of  the 
vestry  for  the  promotion  of  science  and  virtue." 

Gustavus  A.  Henry  and  John  H.  Poston  were  to  be  the  ex- 
ecutors of  this  will  "  except  the  hiring  of  the  negroes,  collecting 
the  hire  and  receiving  the  dividends  on  the  turnpike  stock." 
This  devolved  upon  the  vestry.  At  one  time  the  hire  of  the 
negroes  amounted  to  nearly  eight  hundred  dollars  per  annum,  and 
one  servant  was  given  to  the  rector  for  board  and  clothing. — Bp. 
Quintard's  Ad.  at  anniversary  of  the  parish  in  1896. 

Trinity  Church,  Clarksville,  has  not  only  had  eminent  men 
as  rectors,  but  some  distinguished  men  as  wardens  and  vestry- 
men. One  of  these  was  Major  Gustavus  Adolphus  Henry,  who 
was  on  the  vestry  in  1834  and  almost  continuously  since  for 
nearly  half  a  century.  He  was  an  eminent  citizen  and  states- 
man.    He  died  in  1880  at  the  age  of  seventy-six. 


lOO  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

brought  with  them  some  Church  traditions. 
The  Rev.  John  H.  Norment  organized  a  parish 
and  opened  a  school  there  about  the  year  1838. 
The  parish  took  the  name  of  St.  Mark  and  was 
admitted  to  union  with  the  diocese.  A  church 
edifice  was  at  once  erected  and  was  consecrated 
by  Bishop  Polk  at  the  request  of  Bishop  Otey  in 
October,  1840. 

Bishop  Polk  and  his  three  brothers  donated 
six  acres  of  land  to  the  diocese  about  six  miles 
from  Columbia  on  the  road  to  Mount  Pleasant 
and  within  a  few  hundred  yards  of  Bishop  Polk's 
house,  and  erected  thereon  a  brick  church  of 
simple  Gothic  design,  capable  of  accommodating 
five  hundred  worshippers.  It  was  intended  for 
the  convenience  of  the  families  in  the  neighbor- 
hood and  the  negroes  upon  their  plantations.  It 
was  consecrated  in  1840,  Bishop  Polk  being  the 
consecrator  on  this  occasion  likewise.  The 
parish  of  St.  John's  was  admitted  to  union  with 
the  diocese  in  1845. 

Thus  Maury  County  had  three  Churches. 
The  congregation  of  St.  Mark's,  never  large,  rap- 
idly declined.  There  were  but  eight  communi- 
cants in  1850,  and  the  Church  was  reduced  to 
the  status  of  a  mission.  The  Rev.  E.  Harrison 
Cressey  was  rector  of  St.  John's,  Ashwood,  in 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  lOI 

1850,  and  the  parish  then  had  about  fifty  com- 
municants. 

In  the  period  extending  from  the  consecration 
of  Bishop  Otey  to  the  year  1850,  West  Tennes- 
see was  the  scene  of  great  missionary  activity. 
Upon  his  return  to  the  diocese  as  a  Bishop,  in 
1834,  some  of  the  parishes  recognized  as  consti- 
tuting the  diocese  in  1829  and  of  those  admitted 
to  union  therewith  in  1832  and  1833  were  either 
wholly  extinct  or  in  a  moribund  condition. 
But  West  Tennessee  was  then  in  process  of  col- 
onization by  a  class  of  people  not  so  deeply 
affected  by  the  religious  convulsions  which  had 
marked  the  beginning  of  the  century.  Hence  it 
offered  the  most  promising  field  for  the 
Church's  growth.  The  Bishop,  therefore,  turned 
his  attention  chiefly  in  that  direction. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Stephens  had  gone  from  Co- 
lumbia to  Bolivar  early  in  1834.  He  reported  the 
population  of  that  county-seat  "of  a  singular  cast, 
though  intelligent."  Neither  the  men  nor  the 
women  had  hitherto  been  in  the  habit  of  going  to 
hear  any  kind  of  preaching.  Faithful  efforts  on 
the  part  of  this  now  aged  missionary  brought 
together  six  communicants  of  the  Church  and 
others  who  were  friendly;  and  on  the  17th  of 
April,  Bishop  Otey  visited  the  place  and  presided 
at  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  at  which  a  parish 


102  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH    IN 

was  organized,  taking  the  name  of  St.  James. 
Thirty-seven  persons  signed  the  articles  of  asso- 
ciation. The  new  parish  was  admitted  to  union 
with  the  diocese  at  the  convention  held  that  year. 

The  parish  grew  so  slowly  and  encountered  so 
many  obstacles  to  its  prosperity  that  it  was  not 
able  to  have  a  church  edifice  consecrated  until 
1845.  In  1848  the  Rev.  Dr.  Stephens  was  suc- 
ceeded in  the  rectorship  by  the  Rev.  Lewis 
Jansen.  The  parish  reported  but  fourteen  com- 
municants in  1850. 

To  the  convention  of  1835  the  Bishop  reported 
having  made  a  visit  the  previous  year  to  Somer- 
ville  and  to  a  congregation  then  newly  organized 
by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Litton,  to  which  the  name  of 
St.  Thomas  had  been  given.  At  Pulaski,  in 
Giles  County,  some  work  had  been  done  in  the 
early  part  of  1834  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Matthews,  a 
deacon.  The  Bishop  had  visited  Pulaski  and 
organized  a  parish,  calling  it  St.  Stephen's. 
These  two  new  parishes  were  admitted  to  union 
with  the  diocese  at  the  convention  held  in  Jack- 
son in  1835,  and  the  Diocesan  Convention  met  in 
Pulaski  the  following  year.  Nevertheless  both 
parishes  appear  to  have  been  prematurely  organ- 
ized and  recognized.  They  developed  strength 
slov/ly,  if  at  all,  for  several  years,  and  in  1839 
St.  Thomas',  Somerville,  had  to  be  revived  from 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  IO3 

a   mission    known    as    St.  Andrew's,    Fayette 
County. 

In  1835,  the  Rev.  John  Chilton  discovered  a 
few  friends  of  the  Church  at  a  point  near  where 
corners  of  Tipton,  Haywood  and  Fayette  Coun- 
ties met,  and  began  to  minister  to  them.  St. 
Andrew's  parish  was  organized  with  ten  com- 
municants in  April,  1836;  a  house  was  purchased 
and  fitted  up  for  services,  and  the  Rev.  John  H. 
Drummond,  a  deacon,  was  placed  in  charge.  He 
was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  William  Steel,  who 
revived  the  work  in  Somerville  in  1859,  and  after 
1845  St.  Andrew's,  Fayette  County,  is  no  more 
known.  The  building  is  reported  to  have  been 
burned  during  the  war.  St.  Thomas',  Somer- 
ville, was  unable  to  begin  building  operations 
until  1858. 

Trinity  Church,  Tipton  County,  was  admitted 
to  union  with  the  diocese  in  1846,  and  had  then 
a  building  in  process  of  erection.  St.  Matthew's 
Church,  Covington,  was  at  the  same  time 
reported  newly  organized  with  a  church  edifice 
nearly  ready  for  consecration.  Both  were  in 
charge  of  the  Rev.  James  W.  Rogers,  who  was 
also  in  charge  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  Randolph. 

But  the  first  church  building  erected  in  the 
Western  District  was  Ravenscroft  Chapel.  It 
was  erected  by  Mr.  J.  J.  Alston  near  his  residence, 


I04  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

five  miles  east  of  Randolph,  and  was  consecrated 
by  Bishop  Otey  on  the  23d  of  October,  1836. 
The  Alston  family  were  Church  people  from 
North  Carolina,  who  had  recently  settled  in  Tip- 
ton County.  Ravenscroft  Chapel  was  intended 
for  the  convenience  of  the  families  in  the  vicinity 
and  the  negro  slaves  for  whom  due  provision 
was  made  as  at  St.  John's,  Ashwood.  When  St. 
Paul's  Church,  Randolph,  was  completed  and 
consecrated  somewhat  later,  Tipton  County,  like 
Maury  County,  in  Middle  Tennessee,  was  abun- 
dantly supplied  with  churches.  Never  since  in 
the  history  of  the  Church  in  Tennessee  has  the 
proportion  of  Church  privileges  to  the  amount  of 
population  been  so  great  as  in  those  two  coun- 
ties, Maury  and  Tipton. 

Immanuel  Church,  La  Grange,  after  worship- 
ping for  some  time  in  a  small  frame  structure 
provided  by  the  Gloster  and  Anderson  families, 
erected  a  substantial  brick  church  which  was 
consecrated  in  1843.  The  Rev.  Mr,  Litton  was 
succeeded  in  the  rectorship  in  1846  by  the  Rev. 
William  Fagg  from  the  Diocese  of  Ohio. 

Calvary  Church  had  a  lot  in  Memphis  and  had 
erected  thereon  a  frame  building  to  serve  as  both 
chapel  and  rectory.  It  was  regarded  as  but  a 
temporary  makeshift;  and  after  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Wright   had   been   succeeded   by   the  Rev.  Dr. 


THE   DIOCESE  OF  TENNESSEE.  IO5 

Weller,  and  he  in  turn  by  the  young  and  brilliant 
Philip  W.  Alston,  a  new  building  was  erected 
and  was  consecrated  in  1844.*  The  parish  then 
numbered  115  communicants,  the  increase  being 
largely  due  to  the  fervor  and  earnestness  of  the 
young  rector.  He  died  in  1847,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  the  Rev.  David  C.  Page,  D.D. 

In  1837  the  Rev.  Mr.  Chilton  was  serving  the 
Church  in  St.  Gregory's  Chapel,  as  it  was  called, 
a  building  he  had  erected  with  the  aid  of  his 
neighbors,  near  Brownsville,  to  serve  as  both 
Church  and  school-room.  Zion  Church,  Browns- 
ville, was  without  a  building  until  about  1846. 
There  were  then  twelve  communicants  of  the 
Church  in  Brownsville. 

In  1844  an  effort  made  to  resuscitate  the  Church 
work  in  Jackson  under  the  Rev.  Lewis  Jansen 
was  so  far  successful  that  $800  were  raised 
towards  the  erection  of  a  church  edifice.  There 
were  twenty-two  communicants.  The  following 
year  a  building  costing  $2,500  was   completed 


*  "  Calvary  Church  at  that  time  (say  1850)  was  very  plain  in 
the  interior.  There  was  a  side  door  on  Adams  Street,  and  the 
communion  table  was  raised  high  on  quite  a  wide  platform. 
The  pulpit  and  reading  desk  were  odd  enough  to  be  funny; 
they  looked  like  pockets  on  a  school-girl's  apron — ^just  two 
little  balconies  high  up  on  the  wall,  with  little  doors  behind. 
The  stairway  leading  to  these  was  outside  from  the  vestry." 
— The  Rev.  Dr.  George  White's  Historical  Address. 


I06  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   IN 

upon  a  lot  for  which  $450  had  been  paid.  The 
Diocesan  Convention  was  held  in  this  building 
in  1846.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Jansen  was  succeeded 
by  the  Rev.  J.  W.  McCullough,  D.D.,  who  was 
Professor  of  Literature  in  the  West  Tennessee 
College  at  Jackson. 

East  Tennessee  was  by  no  means  neglected 
during  this  period  of  unusual  activity  in  the 
Western  District.  Whatever  may  have  been  the 
actual  status  of  St.  John's  parish,  Knoxville, 
when  recognized  in  1829  as  one  of  the  constitu- 
ent parishes  of  the  nascent  diocese,  it  was  cer- 
tainly extinct  in  1833  when  the  Rev.  John  H. 
Norment,  a  deacon  of  the  Diocese  of  North 
Carolina,  fitted  up  a  hall  in  that  town  as  a  place 
of  worship.  The  population  of  Knoxville  was 
about  two  thousand.  A  congregation  was  gath- 
ered up  numbering  about  fifty  persons  and  a 
vestry  was  elected.  The  following  year  Mr. 
Norment  took  charge  of  a  Female  Academy  at 
Athens,  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Forbes,  a  deacon,  suc- 
ceeded him  in  his  work  in  Knoxville.  Mr. 
Forbes  held  services  until  1836,  by  which  time 
the  congregation  had  increased  three-fold,  though 
there  were  but  four  communicants. 

Two  years  followed  in  which  services  were 
held  only  at  visitations   of  the    Bishop.     Then 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  IO7 

for  about  a  year  the  Rev.  Edward  Reed  gave 
services  in  Knoxville  and  Athens  on  alternate 
Sundays.  In  1844  there  was  but  one  communi- 
cant of  the  Church  in  Knoxville,  Mr.  Albert 
Miller  Lea,  Professor  of  Mathematics  in  East 
Tennessee  University.  Yet  the  Church  had  some 
friends  there,  and  among  them  was  Mr.  Thomas 
W.  Humes,  who  proved  one  of  the  most  active 
and  energetic  workers  in  the  upbuilding  of  the 
Church  in  East  Tennessee. 

He  was  a  native  of  Knoxville  and  a  represen- 
tative Tennesseean.  He  had  already  had  a  career 
of  some  note.  After  graduating  from  the  East 
Tennessee  College,  he  had  begun  preparation  for 
the  Presbyterian  ministry;  but,  discontinuing 
his  studies,  he  had  engaged  in  business,  and  in 
1837,  at  the  age  of  twenty-two,  he  was  elected 
a  director  of  the  Great  Cincinnati  and  Charleston 
Railroad,  and  three  years  later  he  assumed  editorial 
charge  of  a  newspaper  in  Knoxville.  In  1844  he 
was  awaiting  a  visitation  from  Bishop  Otey,  in 
order  that  he  might  be  confirmed.  He  began 
lay-reading,  and  somewhat  later  the  Bishop  sent 
the  Rev.  Charles  Tomes  to  re-establish  the  Church 
in  Knoxville.  Articles  of  Association  were 
adopted,  a  vestry  was  elected  and  delegates  were 
chosen  to  the  Diocesan  Convention.  A  building 
was  fitted  up  as  a  chapel,  and  was  used  as  such 
for  more  than  two  years. 


I08  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH   IN 

Mr.  Humes  was  ordered  a  deacon  in  March, 
1845,  and  was  advanced  to  the  priesthood  the 
July  following.  When  the  Bishop  visited  Knox- 
villethat  year  he  confirmed  twenty-three  persons 
— the  largest  number  ever  yet  confirmed  by  him 
at  one  time — and  laid  the  corner-stone  of  a 
church  building  for  St.  John's  parish,  whose  suc- 
cess seemed  now  assured.  He  confirmed  sixteen 
persons  in  1846.  That  year  the  Rev.  Mr.  Tomes 
resigned  the  rectorship  of  the  parish,  and  was 
succeeded  therein  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Humes.  The 
church  building  was  then  ready  for  occupancy, 
and  was  consecrated  in  July,  1848. 

The  Rev.  Charles  Tomes,  to  whom  so  much 
of  the  success  of  the  Church  in  Knoxville  and 
elsewhere  throughout  the  diocese  was  due,  was 
a  native  of  England,  and  had  been  engaged  in  a 
prosperous  business  in  New  York  when  he  made 
the  acquaintance  of  Bishop  Otey,  and  resolved  to 
enter  the  ministry.  He  studied  under  the  Bishop's 
directions,  and  was  ordered  deacon  on  the  26th 
of  May,  1844,  in  Christ  Church,  Nashville,  and 
advanced  to  the  priesthood  a  week  later  in  St. 
Peter's  Church,  Columbia.  The  Bishop  gave  as 
his  reason  for  advancing  Mr.  Tomes  so  rapidly, 
that  his  destined  field  of  labor.  East  Tennessee, 
was  remote  from  any  church  or  clergyman  of 
our  communion,  and  it  was  obvious  that,  to  the 


THE    DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  I09 

efficient  prosecution  of  his  work,  the  authority 
to  administer  the  Holy  Communion  and  perform 
other  functions  of  the  priesthood  was  highly 
necessary.  In  1846  he  married  a  daughter  of  the 
Bishop, 

In  1845  the  Rev.  Mr.  Tomes,  with  the  assistance 
of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Humes,  began  missionary  work 
in  Greeneville,  Three  years  later  a  parish  was 
organized  and  admitted  to  union  with  the  diocese 
under  the  title  of  St.  James'  Church.  In  Septem- 
ber, 1849,  the  Bishop  made  a  visitation,  and  held 
services  in  an  unfinished  church  building  and 
confirmed  twenty-six  persons.  The  building 
was  completed  the  following  year,  and  it  was 
claimed  that  it  was  the  handsomest  church  edifice 
in  East  Tennessee.* 

The  seed-time  of  the  Church  in  Tennessee 
might  be  said  to  have  extended  to  the  year  1850. 
In  the  decade  from  1850  to  i860  the  State  of 
Tennessee  was  well  advanced  beyond  the  primi- 
tive conditions  which  marked  the  earlier  years. 
Railroads  and  turnpikes  were  facilitating  travel. 
The  larger  towns  were  expanding  and  the  smaller 
towns  were  increasing  in  number.     The  history 


*It  was,  however,  poorly  located,  and  no  very  churchly 
plan  had  been  adopted  for  it.  It  was  a  square  building,  with 
a  tower  resting  upon  the  roof  timbers. — Radford.  Journal  of 
1895. 


no  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

of  the  diocese  during  this  decade  is  marked  by 
the  increase  of  parochial  organizations  in  the 
cities  of  Nashville  and  Memphis,  the  mission 
work  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Gay  in  East  Tennessee  and 
by  the  apparent  fruition  of  the  Bishop's  hopes 
regarding  a  great  University. 

In  the  autumn  of  1852  Bishop  Otey  removed 
with  his  family  from  Columbia  and  took  up  his 
residence  in  the  suburbs  of  Memphis.  That  city 
had  at  that  time  a  population  of  about  10,000, 
and  Calvary  Church  was  the  only  organized 
parish  therein.  Under  the  rectorship  of  Dr.  Page 
that  parish  was  growing  so  rapidly  that  in  1853 
the  time  seemed  to  have  come  for  the  establish- 
ment of  another  parish,  and  it  was  hoped  that 
the  choice  of  Memphis  as  the  Bishop's  home 
would  contribute  to  that  end.  Services  were 
begun  by  him  in  a  rented  room  over  a  restaurant 
and  place  of  popular  entertainment,  and  Grace 
Church  was  organized.  In  1857  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Schetky  became  rector  of  the  new  parish,  and 
the  following  year  Grace  Church  was  admitted 
to  union  with  the  diocese.  Its  roll  of  communi- 
cants rose  to  120  before  i860,  but  it  was  unable 
to  build  a  suitable  place  of  worship.  The  Rev. 
Mr.  Schetky  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  Edward 
McClure  in  1859. 

Grace   parish    was   located   in   the   lower  0 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  I  1 1 

southern  part  of  Memphis.  The  need  of  a  similar 
parish  in  the  northern  portion  of  the  city  was 
met  by  some  ladies  of  Calvary  Church,  who 
began  in  1855  the  work  which  grew  into  St. 
Mary's  Church.  Work  was  begun  on  the  chapel 
in  1857,  and  the  building  was  completed  and 
consecrated  on  Ascension  Day  the  following 
year  upon  a  site  given  by  Colonel  Robert  Brinkley. 
The  Rev.  Richard  Hines  became  rector  of  the 
parish.  There  were  fifty-five  communicants  in 
i860. 

After  serving  the  Church  in  East  Tennessee, 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Tomes  was  for  a  while  rector  of  a 
church  in  Sing  Sing,  N.  Y.,  and  subsequently 
assistant  to  Bishop  Hawks,  rector  of  Christ 
Church,  St.  Louis.  In  1848  he  returned  to  Ten- 
nessee to  succeed  the  Rev.  Dr.  Wheat  as  rector 
of  Christ  Church,  Nashville.  In  July,  1849,  the 
Rev.  J.  P.  T.  Ingraham  was  appointed  by  Bishop 
Otey,  at  the  request  of  the  vestry  of  Christ 
Church,  missionary,  under  the  General  Board  of 
Domestic  Missions,  to  serve  at  the  same  time  as 
the  assistant  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Tomes  at  Christ 
Church.  He  established  St.  Paul's  Mission  in 
South  Nashville,  and  presented  seventeen  persons 
for  confirmation,  as  the  first-fruits  of  this  mission, 
the  following  year.     That  year  he  also  acted  as 


112  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

chaplain  of  the  Penitentiary  in  Nashville,  and 
presented  twenty-eight  of  the  inmates  of  that 
penal  institution  for  confirmation.  The  convicts 
in  those  days  were  all  whites,  and  a  general 
average  of  200  convicts  annually  was  main- 
tained. 

St.  Paul's  Mission  had  varying  success.  Its 
strength  went  to  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity, 
when  that  parish  was  organized  and  admitted 
to  union  with  the  diocese  in  1852  under  the 
energetic  labors  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Tomes.  In  that 
year  the  corner-stone  of  a  church  building  for 
this  parish  was  laid.  The  building  was  an 
exquisite  specimen  of  Gothic  architecture,  and 
was  planned  under  the  supervision  of  Mr.  Tomes. 
The  church  was  completed  with  the  exception 
of  the  tower,  and  Mr.  Tomes  had  the  extreme 
gratification  of  seeing  it  consecrated  before  his 
death  in  1857.  The  Rev.  George  C.  Harris  took 
charge  of  the  parish  in  1858.  He  was  able  to 
report  sixty-five  communicants  in  i860. 

The  "advanced  views  "  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Tomes 
and  his  advocacy  of  such  catholic  practices  as 
daily  morning  and  evening  prayer,  the  weekly 
offertory  and  "free  pews"  led  to  opposition  to 
him  in  Christ  Church,  his  resignation  of  the 
rectorship  in  1855,  and  the  establishment  of  the 
Church    of   the   Advent,  Nashville.      The   new 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  I  I  3 

parish  was  admitted  to  union  with  the  diocese 
in  1858.  Upon  the  death  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Tomes 
in  1857,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Quintard  succeeded  to 
the  rectorship.  There  were  204  communicants 
reported  in  this  parish  in  i860,  but  the  church 
building  had  not  advanced  beyond  the  foundation 
walls.  The  three  parishes  of  Nashville  were 
located  within  a  short  distance  of  each  other, 
and  thus  furnished  the  occasion  for  parochial 
jealousies  in  a  subsequent  period.  The  Church 
work  in  the  capital  city  of  Tennessee  has  been 
much  retarded  by  the  frequent  discussion  of  the 
"bad  location  "  of  the  parishes. 

In  1858  the  town  of  Edgefield,  lying  east  of 
the  Cumberland  River  from  Nashville,  had  a 
population  of  something  less  than  a  thousand. 
That  year  the  Rev.  Dr.  Quintard,  being  then 
rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Advent,  presided  at 
the  organization  of  a  parish  in  Edgefield,  which 
adopted  the  name  of  St.  Stephen's  Church.  One 
of  the  supporters  of  the  movement  was  Dr.  John 
Shelby,  who  is  entitled  to  be  called  one  of  the 
lay  fathers  of  the  Church  in  Tennessee.  A  church 
building  was  erected  upon  land  set  apart  for  that 
purpose  by  Dr.  Shelby,  and  was  completed  in 
i860.  Dr.  Quintard  was  succeeded  as  rector  of 
the  parish  by  the  Rev.  W.  D.  Harlow,  and  the 
parish  was  admitted  into  union  with  the  diocese 


114  HISTORY   OF   THE  CHURCH   IN 

in  i860.  Out  of  this  work  has  grown  in  post 
bellum  times  the  flourishing  parish  of  St.  Ann's 
Church,  Nashville,  the  suburb  of  Edgefield  having 
been  merged  into  the  capital  city. 

The  Rev.  John  Lenoir  Gay  was  a  native  of 
North  Carolina,  and  was  ordered  deacon  by 
Bishop  Polk  in  1843,  advanced  to  the  priesthood 
by  Bishop  Cobbs  in  1845,  and  had  served  the 
Church  in  Alabama,  Florida  and  New  York  before 
he  came  to  the  Diocese  of  Tennessee  in  1852  to 
undertake  mission  work  in  the  eastern  part  of 
the  State.  He  selected  for  his  field  the  southern 
portion  of  East  Tennessee,  comprising  the  six 
most  south-easterly  counties  of  the  State :  Blount, 
Loudon,  McMinn,  Monroe,  Bradley  and  Polk.  The 
region  was  thirty  miles  long  by  forty  in  width, 
and  included  the  towns  of  Athens,  Chilhowee, 
Tellico,  Ducktown,  Cleveland,  Charleston  and 
Louisville.  In  each  of  these,  through  his  efforts, 
services  were  held  and  the  church  secured  a 
hearing;  and,  as  a  result,  church  buildings  were 
erected  at  Loudon  and  Riverside  and  begun  at 
Athens,  Cleveland,  Chilhowee  and  Louisville. 

Grace  Church,  Loudon,  was  admitted  to  union 
with  the  diocese  in  1855,  and  the  same  year  the 
church  building  was  consecrated.  But  the  parish 
was  reported  extinct  in  i860,  with  no  hopes  of  its 


THE  DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  I  I  5 

resuscitation.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Gay  resigned  charge 
of  the  church  erected  at  Riverside,  and  so  was 
not  connected  with  the  incident  which  has  given 
to  that  ephemeral  church  building  a  prominence 
in  the  history  of  the  diocese  out  of  all  proportion 
to  the  amount  of  good  it  accomplished.  The 
church  was  a  beautiful  edifice,  built  of  brick 
with  marble  trimmings,  stained  glass  windows, 
oak  ceiling  and  elegant  furniture,  costing  in  all 
over  $4,000.  It  was  erected  at  the  expense  of 
Mr.  Andrew  Humes  (an  early  patron  of  St.  John's 
Church,  Knoxville)  and  Colonel  John  McGhee, 
on  lands  of  Mr.  J.  W.  Miles,  a  beautiful  site  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Tellico  River,  near  where  in  for- 
mer days  the  United  States  kept  a  garrison,  and  in 
sight  of  old  Fort  Loudon.  It  commanded  a 
view  up  and  down  the  river,  and  overlooked  a 
lovely  and  fertile  agricultural  district.* 

When  Bishop  Otey,  in  company  with  Bishop 
Polk,  visited  Riverside  in  1857,  for  the  purpose 
of  consecrating  this  church,  he  was  shocked  to 
see  what  he  supposed  were  unmistakable  signs 
of  the  inroads  of  that  "ritualism"  which  was 
already  rampant  in  the  cities  of  the  East.  There 
was  "a  cross  over  every  gate,  three  crosses  on 
the  roof  and  one  on  the  belfry  "  ;  and  inside  the 


*  Radford.  Dioc.  Journ.,  1891. 


Il6  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH    IN 

church,  five  crosses,  besides  the  "  large  movable 
cross "  on  the  altar.  The  candlesticks  were, 
furthermore,  of  wood,  so  that  the  canons  of  good 
taste  must  have  been  violated  by  overdecoration. 
It  was  because  of  the  good  Bishop's  fears 
of  Romeward  tendencies  that  he  refused  to 
consecrate  the  church  until  the  candlesticks  were 
removed  and  the  number  of  crosses  was  reduced. 
His  demands  were  complied  with,  though  not 
without  some  one's  taking  offence.*  The  church 
suffered  from  the  removal  of  the  neighboring 
population,  and  has  no  present  existence. 

In  1854  St.  Paul's  Church,  Chattanooga,  was 
admitted  to  union  with  the  diocese.  There  were 
seventeen  communicants.  In  i860  the  Bishop 
complained  that  after  an  expenditure  of  $4,000 
for  a  church  building  for  this  parish,  there  was 
still  a  debt  of  $2,000  upon  it.  And  while  this 
was  only  an  aggravated  case  of  something  which 
elsewhere  existed,  he  doubted  the  existence  of 
another  diocese  in  the  country  which  had  so  little 
to  display  in  the  number  and  costliness  of  its 
church  buildings. 

Trinity  Church,  Winchester,  organized  in  April, 
1859,  under  the  supervision  of  the  Rev.  Thomas 


*  The  incident  is  related  more  fully,  and  with  the  Bishop's 
explanation  of  his  part  therein,  in  Bishop  Green's  "  Memoir  of 
Bishop  Otey  ";  in  the  Dice.  Journ.  of  1858,  and  elsewhere. 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  II7 

A.  Morris,  was  admitted  to  union  with  the  diocese 
the  following  year,  with  fifty-nine  communicants. 
The  parish  was  the  result  of  the  then  recent 
location  of  the  University  of  the  South  at  Sewanee, 
twelve  miles  distant.  St.  Paul's  Church,  Athens, 
and  St.  Andrew's  Church,  Murfreesborough,  were 
also  admitted  to  union  with  the  diocese  in  i860. 
The  latter  had  thirteen  communicants,  and  a 
like  number  was  reported  by  the  Church  of 
the  Redeemer,  Shelbyville,  an  unorganized 
congregation.  Immanuel  Church,  Ripley,  also 
submitted  a  report.  There  were  reports  submitted 
to  the  convention  of  i860  of  missionary  work 
by  the  Rev.  William  Crane  Gray  in  West 
Tennessee,  and  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  B. 
Lawson  in  East  Tennessee.  Altogether,  the 
outlook  for  the  Church  in  the  diocese,  (which 
had  been  incorporated  on  the  15th  of  March, 
1858,  under  the  name  of  "  The  Convention 
of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the 
Diocese  of  Tennessee,")  must  have  been  bright 
and  encouraging. 


Il8  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

CHAPTER  IX. 

THE   CHURCH   AND   EDUCATION. 

Bishop  Otey  was  pre-eminently  an  educator, 
and  he  succeeded  in  permanently  impressing  the 
character  of  a  teacher  upon  the  diocese  over 
which,  in  the  providence  of  God,  it  was  given 
him  to  rule  for  thirty  years.  His  idea  of  the 
Church's  mission  was  that  of  a  teacher.  The 
Apostles  had  been  sent  forth  to  teach  all  nations 
no  less  than  to  baptize  them.  Instruction  was 
the  very  foundation  of  the  missionary  enterprises 
of  the  Church. 

He  had  come  to  Tennessee  as  a  teacher,  and 
the  State  never  had  an  abler,  more  devoted,  or 
more  constant  friend  of  education  than  he.  It 
was  as  a  teacher  that  he  had  been  so  admirably 
qualified  to  take  up  the  work  of  the  ministry  in 
the  then  frontier  State.  It  has  been  usual  to 
refer  to  his  pursuit  of  educational  enterprises  as 
mere  makeshifts — means  whereby  he  was  enabled 
to  live  and  do  the  work  of  the  ministry.  The 
truth  is  that  he  regarded  teaching  as  a  part,  and 
a  very  important  part,  of  his  work  in  the  ministry. 
His  elevation  to  the  Episcopate  appeared  to  him 
but  to  increase  the  responsibility  resting  upon 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  I  I9 

him  to  instruct  all  who  came  within  the  ran^e 
of  his  influence,  and  to  provide  a  wider  range 
of  instruction.  A  teacher  and  a  projector  of 
educational  enterprises  he  remained  to  the  end 
of  his  earthly  life,  and  his  influence  in  the  world 
has  been  perpetuated  through  the  two  great 
educational  institutions  which  he  succeeded  in 
having  established  in  Tennessee. 

It  is  probably  more  than  a  mere  coincidence 
that  so  many  of  the  clergy  of  Tennessee  should 
have  been  teachers.  The  fact  has  already  been 
adverted  to  in  its  relation  to  the  support  which 
teaching  afforded  the  clergy,  enabling  them  to 
do  their  work  at  God's  altar.  But,  besides  this, 
there  seems  to  have  been  that  in  Bishop  Otey 
which  attracted  teachers  to  him,  and  this  has 
served  to  make  the  Diocese  of  Tennessee  stand 
out  prominently  among  the  dioceses  of  the 
American  Church,  both  in  its  ante  bellum  and  its 
later  epoch,  as  an  educational  diocese.  There 
have  been  times  when  it  could  be  said  literally 
that  wherever  a  church  was  to  be  found  in 
Tennessee  there  also  was  to  be  found  a  school. 

The  education  the  Bishop  imparted,  and  which 
he  sought  to  make  more  general  in  Tennessee  and 
throughout  the  Southwest,  was  of  the  broadest 
and  most  liberal  character  and  was  firmly  based 
upon  Christianity.     The  seminary  he  began  to 


120  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH  IN 

plan  before  he  was  elevated  to  the  Episcopate 
was  to  furnish  a  thorough  classical  and  scientific 
education  to  all  who  chose  to  avail  themselves 
of  it,  as  well  as  to  prepare  for  the  sacred  ministry 
such  as  were  desirous  of  taking  orders  in  the 
Church.  And  this  plan  grew  in  his  mind  until 
it  embraced  a  scheme  for  a  university  such  as  is 
now  to  be  found  in  the  University  of  the  South. 
Christian  Education  was  the  subject  of  a  pastoral 
letter  issued  by  him  in  1841  and  the  theme  of 
his  sermon  before  the  General  Convention  in 
Richmond  in  1859. 

In  the  third  annual  convention  of  the  diocese, 
held  in  1832,  Mr.  Otey  put  his  ideas  of  the 
educational  character  of  the  Church  in  the  form 
of  a  resolution,  which  the  convention  passed, 
whereby  the  infant  diocese  was  pledged  to 
establish  a  classical  and  theological  seminary  to 
educate  persons  desirous  of  obtaining  Holy  Orders ; 
and  authorized  the  StandingCommittee  to  appoint 
trustees  with  full  power  to  take  all  necessary 
measures  for  furthering  this  object  and  to  report 
at  the  next  convention.  Mr.  Otey  was  then  a 
member  of  the  Standing  Committee. 

No  report  upon  the  subject  was  made  at  the 
next  Diocesan  Convention,  which  was  that  at 
which  Mr.  Otey  was  elected  Bishop.  But  the 
subject  was  by  no  means  forgotten.     In  his  first 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  121 

convention  address  in  1834  he  expressed  his  fears 
that  the  time  was  then  inauspicious  for  pressing 
the  needs  of  the  seminary.  The  convention, 
however,  by  resolution  requested  the  Bishop  and 
Standing  Committee  to  devise  such  plans  and 
take  such  measures  as  might  be  deemed  expedient 
for  the  establishment  of  a  classical  and  theological 
seminary  and  to  report  to  the  next  convention. 
That  year  the  Rev.  Leonidas  Polk  was  in  charge 
of  St.  Peter's  Church,  Columbia,  and  he  became 
a  zealous  co-worker  with  Bishop  Otey  in  all  of 
his  efforts  on  behalf  of  Christian  education.  The 
Standing  Committee,  which  was  to  co-operate 
with  the  Bishop  in  this  work,  was  composed  of 
the  Rev.  Messrs.  Weller  and  Polk,  Mr.  Francis  B. 
Fogg  and  Dr.  John  Shelby. 

In  1835  the  Bishop  was  able  to  report  to 
the  seventh  annual  convention  of  his  diocese 
that  a  project  had  been  set  on  foot  by  friends 
of  the  Church  in  Tennessee,  Mississippi  and 
Louisiana  for  founding  and  endowing  a  Protestant 
Episcopal  College  at  some  suitable  point  near  the 
southwestern  boundary  of  Tennessee,  and  that 
the  scheme  had  already  been  attended  with  every 
encouraging  earnest  of  success.  A  committee 
on  education  was  forthwith  created  by  the 
convention,  to  consist  of  Bishop  Otey,  chairman, 
ex-officio;  the  Rev.  Mr.  Polk,  Mr.  Adlai  O.  Harris 
and  General  B.  S.  Tappan. 


122  HISTORY    OF   THE   CHURCH   IN 

In  his  exercise  of  Episcopal  oversight  in  the 
Diocese  of  Mississippi,  Bishop  Otey  was  more 
profoundly  than  ever  impressed  by  the  illiteracy 
and  impiety  he  had  encountered  on  all  hands  in 
his  journey;  with  the  urgent  needs  of  the  educa- 
tional institution  he  had  been  advocating,  and  of 
widening  its  scope  to  include  the  entire  southwest, 
he  brought  the  subject  to  the  attention  of 
Mississippians  in  a  circular  letter  issued  from 
Natchez  on  the  i6th  of  February,  1856.  It 
contained  a  stirring  appeal  for  funds  to  carry  out 
a  scheme  which  embraced  three  departments. 
One  was  a  theological  seminary;  the  second  was 
a  literary,  scientific  and  classical  college;  the 
third  was  a  normal  school  for  the  education  of 
professional  teachers;  wherein  Bishop  Otey  was 
one  of  the  earliest  advocates  of  the  normal  system 
of  educating  teachers. 

In  his  address  to  the  convention,  held  in  Pulaski 
in  1836,  the  Bishop  regretted  that  circumstances 
had  defeated  his  expectations  of  raising  funds 
for  his  enterprise;  but  the  scheme  was  by  no 
means  abandoned,  and  after  the  adjournment  of 
the  convention  he  spent  much  of  his  time  pushing 
the  matter  in  various  parts  of  West  Tennessee. 

In  1837  he  stated  that  Mr.  Polk  had  made 
arrangements  to  go  to  Louisiana  to  solicit  funds 
for  the  proposed  college  or  university,  but  that 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  12^ 

the  financial  distress  which  had  overtaken  the 
country  had  upset  his  plans.  The  convention, 
however,  decided  that  year  that  a  charter  should 
be  secured  for  a  college  to  be  located  in  Madison 
County,  and  to  be  named  Madison  College,  and  to 
embody  in  its  scope  as  far  as  was  practicable  the 
Bishop's  ideas  and  plans.  And  the  charter  was 
accordingly  obtained  the  following  December. 

But  the  financial  stringency  of  the  times 
prevented  the  establishment  of  Madison  College. 
Perhaps  the  hand  of  Providence  was  in  it;  for 
had  Madison  College  succeeded,  it  might  have 
diverted  and  absorbed  the  attention  that  was 
destined  for  the  University  of  the  South,  which 
was  the  fuller  embodiment  of  Bishop  Otey's 
educational  scheme. 

Meanwhile  the  Bishop's  plans  for  the  Chris- 
tian education  of  young  women  had  been 
maturing,  and  in  1838,  with  Mr.  Polk  and  Mr. 
Adlai  O.  Harris,  he  succeeded  in  establishing 
Columbia  Female  Institute,  for  which,  first  and 
last,  he  raised  not  less  than  $15,000.  What  care 
this  school  imposed  upon  him  it  would  be  folly 
to  attempt  to  estimate.  It  was  not  intended  to 
be  diocesan  in  its  purpose,  and  so  has  no  part  in 
the  history  of  the  diocese  until  a  time  very  near 
the  present. 

In    1844  the    Bishop   opened    Mercer  Hall   at 


124  HISTORY    OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

Columbia,  in  which  he  taught  and  was  assisted 
by  some  of  his  theological  students.  After  four 
years  he  was  forced  to  close  this  school.  But  in 
the  winter  of  1848-9  he  opened  Ravenscroft 
College  near  Columbia,  for  which  a  charter  had 
been  secured  by  Mr.  Francis  B.  Fogg.  The 
school  was  taught  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Wheat  and 
Mr.  Donald  McLeod.  This  scheme  also  failed 
for  lack  of  funds.  But  the  indomitable  Bishop 
was  not  altogether  disheartened  by  his  many 
failures.  He  still  held  to  his  plan  for  a  Church 
University,  and  his  persistence  was  not  in  vain. 
In  1838  Bishop  Polk  attained,  as  we  have  seen, 
to  the  Episcopate,  and  in  1841  he  became  the 
Diocesan  of  Louisiana.  In  1856  he  had  reached, 
by  an  independent  process  of  reasoning,  based 
upon  his  own  experiences  and  observations  in 
the  Episcopate,  a  plan  almost  identical  with  that 
which  Bishop  Otey  had  under  consideration, 
and  which  he  had  been  formulating  for  the  past 
five  years.  This  was  for  the  establishment  of 
a  Church  University  to  serve  the  educational 
needs  of  all  the  dioceses  south  of  Virginia  and 
of  the  Ohio  River.  He  found  the  way  largely 
prepared  for  the  success  of  this  enterprise  by  the 
work  which  Bishop  Otey  had  done  during  twenty 
years  and  more.  Bishop  Otey  entered  into  the 
scheme  with  all  the  warmth  of  his  noble  and 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  I25 

generous  nature.  He  was  glad  that  some  one 
had  taken  hold  of  it  who  had  more  leisure  than 
he  had  to  prosecute  it  to  a  happy  result. 

At  the  convention  of  1857  the  Rev.  Dr.  Pise, 
the  Honorable  Francis  B.  Fogg  and  Mr.  John 
Armfield  were  elected  commissioners  to  the 
Convention  of  Bishops  and  others  to  be  held  in 
July  of  that  year  near  Chattanooga  on  the  subject 
of  the  proposed  university.  The  history  of  the 
University  of  the  South  from  that  time  onward 
has  been  so  frequently  told  that  it  requires  no 
repetition  here.  Its  history  in  a  subsequent 
period  is  so  closely  related  to  that  of  the  diocese 
as  to  be  almost  that  of  a  diocesan  institution. 
But  for  the  present  its  place  here  is  because  of 
its  location  upon  a  domain  within  the  Diocese 
of  Tennessee,  and  because  the  first  Bishop  of 
Tennessee  became  the  first  chancellor  of  the 
University  of  the  South.  And  it  was  an  undoubted 
mercy  to  him  that  he  was  removed  from  the 
scene  of  his  earthly  labors  before  he  knew  what 
havoc  war  had  made  in  that  for  which  he  had 
worked  so  long  and  amid  such  discouragements. 


126  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 


CHAPTER  X. 

SOME  OF  THE  GIANTS  IN  THE  EARTH  IN  THOSE 
DAYS. 

There  are  a  hundred  names  appearing  upon 
the  roster  of  the  clergy  of  Tennessee  in  the 
time  of  Bishop  Otey's  Episcopate.  Of  the  three 
clergymen  in  Tennessee  before  the  organization 
of  the  diocese,  two  (the  Rev.  Mr.  Howell  and  the 
Rev.  John  Davis)  were  deposed  from  the  ministry. 
The  third  became  a  Bishop,  and  his  biography 
for  nearly  thirty  years  is  so  interwoven  with  the 
history  of  the  diocese  that  neither  could  be 
separately  written.  The  Rev.  Thomas  Wright 
was  a  missionary  organizer.  The  history  of 
every  parish  or  mission  in  West  Tennessee  is 
traceable  to  the  missionary  journey  he  made 
through  that  part  of  the  State  in  1832.  He  died 
of  cholera  in  Memphis  in  1835.  The  Rev.  John 
Chilton's  career  in  the  ministry  was  spent  in 
the  vicinity  of  Jackson  and  Brownsville.  He 
died  in  1839. 

The  Rev.  Samuel  George  Litton  was  a  native 
of  Ireland  and  a  graduate  of  Dublin  University. 
He  was  advanced  to  the  priesthood  by  Bishop 
Otey  in  1 835.    He  extended  the  Church  in  Fayette 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  1 27 

County,  built  Immanuel  Church,  La  Grange,  and, 
in  faihng  health,  left  the  diocese  in  1846.  He 
died  in  Louisiana  three  years  later.  Ten  years 
after  his  death  Bishop  Otey  spoke  of  him  as  "the 
loved  and  loving  Litton." 

The  life  of  the  Rev.  Daniel  Stephens,  D.D., 
was  one  of  sorrow,  but  one  of  long  and  faithful 
service,  pro  Christo  et  Ecclesia.  He  was  the 
first  rector  of  St.  Peter's  Church,  Columbia,  the 
organizer  of  St.  James'  Church,  Bolivar,  and  its 
rector  for  eleven  years.  He  died  at  Bolivar  in 
1850,  in  the  eighty-third  year  of  his  age  and  in 
the  forty-third  year  of  his  ministry.  He  outlived 
a  son  of  great  promise,  the  Rev.  Abednego 
Stephens,  a  professor  in  the  University  of 
Nashville,  whom  Bishop  Otey  ordered  deacon 
in  1837  and  advanced  to  the  priesthood  two  years 
later.  He  left  the  diocese  in  1840  to  accept  the 
presidency  of  Jefferson  College,  Mississippi,  and 
died  there  in  1841. 

The  Rev.  George  Weller,  D.D.,  after  resigning 
Christ  Church  parish,  Nashville,  in  1837,  continued 
for  a  while  as  principal  of  a  girls'  school  there, 
and  then  accepted  the  rectorship  of  Calvary 
Church,  Memphis.  He  resigned  this  parish  in 
1839,  and  died  of  cholera  in  Vicksburg  in  1840, 
having  stood  manfully  at  his  post  as  rector  of 
Christ  Church  in  that  city  while  the  disease  was 
epidemic  there. 


128  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

The  Rev.  Leonidas  Polk  went  from  the  Diocese 
of  Tennessee  to  adorn  the  Episcopate,  first  of  an 
immense  missionary  field,  and  then  of  the  Diocese 
of  Louisiana.  Upon  the  organization  of  the 
Army  of  the  Confederate  States,  he  accepted  a 
commission  therein  as  major-general,  and  was 
killed  by  a  cannon  shot  while  reconnoitering  on 
Kennesaw  Mountain  in  1864. 

The  Rev.  John  Chilton  was  succeeded  in  1836 
as  rector  of  St.  Luke's  Church,  Jackson,  (while 
that  Church,  although  recognized  as  a  parish  in 
union  with  the  diocese,  was  in  its  early  mission 
stages),  by  the  Rev.  Thomas  West,  a  man  of 
remarkable  career.  He  was  a  native  of  Ireland, 
and  as  a  Methodist  preacher  had  been  a  com- 
panion of  Mr.  Wesley  in  many  of  his  journeys. 
After  the  death  of  Mr.  Wesley  and  the  separation 
of  some  of  his  followers  in  England  and  Ireland 
from  the  English  Church,  and  their  establishment 
of  a  separate  organization  (against  which  Mr. 
Wesley  had  earnestly  warned  to  the  year  of  his 
death),  Mr.  West  came  to  the  United  States  and 
received  orders  from  the  Bishop  of  New  York. 
For  sixty  years  he  served  at  the  Church's  altars. 
He  left  the  Diocese  of  Tennessee  some  time  in 
the  "forties,"  and  was  crippled  by  an  accident 
in  Philadelphia.  Returning  to  the  vicinity  of 
Brownsville,  Tenn.,  he  died  there  in  1848  at  the 
age  of  eighty-three. 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  1 29 

The  Rev.  William  Thomas  Leacock,  D.D.,  was 
connected  with  the  diocese  in  1839  and  was  some 
time  rector  of  St.  Mark's  Church,  Williamsport. 
He  had  received  his  orders  from  the  Bishop  of 
London  as  early  as  1822  and  1824.  He  was  sub- 
sequently for  thirty  years  rector  of  Christ  Church, 
New  Orleans,  and  died  in  1884  at  the  age  of 
eighty-eight. 

In  1838  the  Rev.  Franklin  G.  Smith  came  to 
the  Diocese  of  Tennessee  to  become  rector  of 
the  Columbia  Female  Institute,  and  he  was  for 
many  years  identified  with  the  educational  inter- 
ests of  the  diocese.  He  was  a  native  of  the 
North,  a  graduate  of  Middlebury  College,  Ver- 
mont, and  had  begun  a  course  of  preparation  for 
the  Presbyterian  ministry  at  Princeton,  N.  J., 
when  his  studies  led  him  to  the  ministry  of  our 
communion.  He  was  ordained  by  Bishop  Moore 
of  Virginia  at  the  same  service  at  which  Bishop 
Cobbs  received  priest's  orders.  "  He  was  a  man 
of  great  gentleness  of  disposition,  possessing  a 
warm  heart  and  a  thoroughly  furnished  mind."* 
He  was  suspended  from  the  ministry  in  1852,! 
and  died  in  1866  at  the  age  of  sixty-nine. 


*  Bp.  Quintard,  Con  v.  Ad.,  1867. 

f  From  all  that  the  present  writer  can  learn  of  this  case,  it 
seems  to  have  been  similar  to  that  of  Bishop  Onderdonk,  of  New 


130  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH   IN 

No  man  was  more  active  in  the  work  of  the 
Church  in  West  Tennessee  than  he  who  suc- 
ceeded the  Rev.  Dr.  Weller  in  the  rectorship  of 
Calvary  Church,  Memphis,  in  1839.  The  Rev. 
Philip  William  Whitmiell  Alston  was,  in  a 
peculiar  sense,  a  representative  of  the  Church  in 
Tennessee  throughout  the  succeeding  eight 
years.  He  was  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  was 
born  within  the  Church's  fold  and  was  educated 
at  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  where  he 
was  graduated  in  1829  at  the  age  of  sixteen.  He 
removed  with  his  family  to  the  neighborhood  of 
Randolph,  Tenn.,  in  1831,  and  was  confirmed 
by  Bishop  Otey  at  his  first  visitation  in  Randolph 
in  the  spring  of  1834.  He  was  then  twenty-one 
years  of  age.  He  served  as  lay  delegate  to  the 
Diocesan  Conventions  of  1834  and  1835,  and  as 
lay  deputy  to  the  General  Convention  in  the 
latter  year. 

He   prosecuted    his  studies  for  the   ministry 

York,  and  throughout  the  years  that  the  sentence  of  suspen- 
sion rested  upon  him,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Smith  conducted  himself 
in  the  same  noble  manner  as  did  Bishop  Onderdonk,  whom 
most  Churchmen  now  believe  to  have  been  guilty  of  no  wrong, 
but  to  have  been  the  victim  of  a  persecution.  Mr.  Smith's  name 
was  continued  upon  the  clergy  list  of  Tennessee  until  his  death, 
with  the  note  of  his  suspension.  And  in  his  address  before  the 
Convention  of  1867,  Bishop  Quintard  devoted  many  words  to 
his  life  and  character,  without,  however,  explaining  the  cir- 
cumstances of  his  suspension. 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  I3I 

under  the  direction  of  Bishop  Otey,  part  of  the 
time  at  the  Bishop's  residence.  He  was  ordered 
deacon  in  1838  and  licensed  to  preach.  The 
following  year  he  was  called  to  the  rectorship  of 
Calvary  Church,  Memphis,  which  he  served 
faithfully  to  the  close  of  his  life.  He  was  ad- 
vanced to  the  priesthood  in  1840.  He  served  as 
clerical  deputy  to  the  General  Convention  in  1841 
and  1844.  His  death  resulted  from  exposure  to 
the  elements  and  the  hardships  of  travel  on  the 
way  to  the  Diocesan  Convention  at  Columbia  on 
the  17th  of  June,  1847.* 

The  Rev.  Charles  Tomes  was  a  man  of  like 
influence  in  the  Church  in  Tennessee.  From  the 
year  of  his  ordination,  in  1844,  he  was  never 
absent  from  the  Diocesan  Convention  when 
entitled  to  a  seat  therein.  He  served  faithfully 
as  Secretary  of  the  Diocese,  President  of  the 
Standing  Committee  and  Deputy  to  the  General 
Convention.  During  a  scourge  of  cholera  in 
Nashville  he  performed  the  most  arduous  duties 


*Some  of  his  sermons  and  addresses  were  collected  in  1854 
and  published  in  an  octavo  volume  of  450  pages.  They  are 
largely  polemic  in  character,  and  of  a  style  of  which  the  present 
age  is  quite  intolerant.  But  they  imply  that  the  clergy  of  Ten- 
nessee in  those  early  days  firmly  upheld  the  principles  of  the 
Church,  and  they  suggest  that  it  was  this  straightforward, 
fearless  setting  forth  of  "sound  doctrine"  that  enabled  the 
Church  to  grapple  with  the  great  difficulties  which  then  pre- 
sented themselves  to  her  progress. 


132  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

when  nurses  and  doctors  fled,  and  sometimes 
even  robed  the  dead  for  the  grave.  He  died  in 
1857  from  exposure  returning  from  the  Diocesan 
Convention  held  that  year  in  Jackson, 

The  Rev.  William  Croes  Crane,  after  leaving 
the  Diocese  of  Tennessee,  served  the  Church  in 
Louisiana  from  1850  to  1852,  and  died  in  Jack- 
son, Miss.,  in  1877  at  the  age  of  seventy-two. 

The  Rev.  John  Sandels  served  the  Church  in 
Tennessee,  chiefly  in  her  educational  enterprises, 
from  1856  until  some  time  during  the  period  of 
the  Civil  War.  He  had  received  deacon's  orders 
from  Bishop  Mcllvaine,  of  Ohio,  in  1840,  and 
was  canonically  resident  in  Louisiana  from  1846 
to  1856,  and  again  from  1864  for  ten  years  until 
his  death  in  1874. 

The  Rev.  David  C.  Page,  D.D.,  who  suc- 
ceeded Alston  at  Calvary  Church,  Memphis,  was 
received  from  Mississippi  in  1847.  He  was  "a 
man  to  be  remembered — dignified,  courtly, 
genial  and  interesting  in  conversation,  a  fine 
scholar,  a  great  lover  of  music,  a  good  man  and 
a  true  gentleman."*  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Standing  Committee  and  served  as  Deputy  to 
the  General  Convention,  and  occupied  other 
positions  of  prominence  in  diocesan  affairs  until 

*Dr.  White. 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  1 33 

1856,  when  he  removed  to  the  Diocese  of  Ken- 
tucky. He  had  received  his  orders  from  Bishop 
White.  He  died  in  1878  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
six. 

The  Rev.  J.  W.  McCullough,  D.D.,  resigned 
the  rectorship  of  St.  Luke's  Church,  Jackson,  in 
1854  to  accept  a  professorship  in  the  University 
of  Nashville,  and  was  three  years  later  trans- 
ferred to  the  Diocese  of  Maryland. 

These  all  obtained  a  good  report  through 
faith.  Yet  the  time  would  fail  to  tell  of  others 
of  that  early  period,  who,  having  served  with 
fidelity  at  the  Church's  altars  in  Tennessee,  went 
forward  to  receive  their  reward. 

Of  the  faithful  laymen,  whose  lives  reflected 
the  history  of  the  Church  in  Tennessee  in  those 
days,  there  were  many.  The  Hon.  Francis 
Brinley  Fogg  and  his  brother,  Godfrey  M.  Fogg, 
were  ever  the  friends  of  the  Church  in  Tennessee, 
and  survived  the  period  of  the  Civil  War  to  ren- 
der yet  further  services.  Mr.  John  Anderson,  of 
La  Grange,  died  on  the  14th  of  May,  1847.  ^^ 
was  well-known,  both  in  Tennessee  and  North 
Carolina,  for  his  humble  piety  and  fervent  zeal 
for  the  Church.  He  served  the  Church  in  Ten- 
nessee in  such  capacity  as  a  layman  could,  and 
was  in  all  things  found  faithful.  Dr.  John 
Shelby  was  for  twenty  years  an  active  and  use- 


134  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

ful  member   of  the   Standing  Committee.      He 
died  in  Nashville  in  May,  1859. 

Of  Mr.  Adlai  O.  Harris,  when  he  died  in  March, 
1861,  Bishop  Otey  wrote,  "  He  was  one  of  the 
best  men  I  have  ever  known.  He  was  the  most 
prominent  layman  in  this  diocese  for  thirty 
years.  He  was  liberal  of  his  means  and  ever 
prompt  in  the  performance  of  good  and  charita- 
ble deeds.  He  was  a  man  of  exemplary  piety, 
and  a  well-informed  and  sound  Churchman 
.  .  .  and  the  only  member  of  the  Church  in 
Tennessee  who,  to  my  knowledge,  has  remem- 
bered the  poor  in  his  will!"  He  was  a  native  of 
North  Carolina,  and  of  the  same  age  as  Bishop 
Otey.  He  was  first  married  to  a  sister  of  Presi- 
dent Polk.  He  was  one  of  the  earliest  members 
of  the  Church  in  Columbia.  In  1839  he  removed 
to  Randolph,  where  he  was  active  in  Church 
work,  and  in  1842  he  became  a  resident  of  Mem- 
phis, where  he  was  a  vestryman  in  Calvary 
Church.  His  second  wife  was  a  leader  in  that 
noble  band  of  women  whose  good  works  for  the 
Church  in  Tennessee  have  been  abundant.  She 
survived  her  husband  until  1885. 

The  list  is  no  inconsiderable  one  of  those  who 
in  those  early  days  were  preparing  to  serve  the 
Church  in  Tennessee  in  a  succeeding  period. 
The  Rev.  John  Thomas  Wheat  came  to  Christ 


THE   DIOCESE  OF   TENNESSEE.  1 35 

Church,  Nashville,  in  1837  from  Louisiana,  where 
he  had  been  rector  in  succession  of  Christ  Church 
and  St.  Paul's  Church,  New  Orleans.  After 
eleven  years  in  Nashville  and  a  few  years  in 
Columbia,  he  moved  to  North  Carolina,  He 
returned  to  Tennessee  after  the  war.  His  suc- 
cessor at  Columbia,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Pise,  remained 
in  the  diocese  and  in  charge  of  the  Columbia 
Institute  until  after  the  later  period  began. 

In  1846  Bishop  Otey  ordained  to  the  diaconate 
John  A.  Harrison  and  advanced  him  to  the  priest- 
hood in  1848.  In  1852  he  ordered  Charles  Fran- 
cis Collins  deacon,  and  advanced  him  to  the 
priesthood  a  year  later.  In  1859  he  ordained 
William  Crane  Gray,  a  nephew  of  the  Rev.  Wil- 
liam Croes  Crane,  to  the  diaconate,  and  advanced 
him  to  the  priesthood  in  i860.  These  served 
the  Church  in  the  diocese  with  fidelity  for  many 
years,  the  record  of  their  work  filling  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  history  of  the  diocese  during  the 
second  Episcopate.  In  the  twenty-ninth  annual 
convention  of  the  diocese,  held  in  St.  Luke's 
Church,  Jackson,  the  Rev.  George  White,  of  the 
Diocese  of  Alabama,  who  was  visiting  the  con- 
vention, was  invited  by  resolution  to  a  seat 
therein.  In  1859  Dr.  White  was  a  member  of 
the  convention,  having  entered  upon  a  rectorate 
at  Calvary  Church,  Memphis,  which  was  to  last 
for  nearly  thirty  years. 


136  HISTORY    OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

It  was  on  the  second  day  of  the  twenty-sixth 
annual  convention,  meeting  in  St.  John's  Church, 
Knoxville,  in  July,  1854,  that  the  name  of  Charles 
Todd  Quintard,  M.D.,  was  added  to  the  list  of 
delegates  representing  St.  Paul's  Church,  Ran- 
dolph, and,  in  the  language  of  the  diocesan  sec- 
retary, "  he  appeared  and  took  his  seat."  By  a 
prophetic  sort  of  irony  he  was  appointed  upon 
the  Committee  on  Assessments,  and  thus  con- 
fronted one  of  the  phases  of  diocesan  economics 
which  was  to  rise  up  before  him  almost  contin- 
uously throughout  a  subsequent  period  of  over 
thirty  years.  And  from  that  time  until  1898  Dr. 
Quintard  was  the  most  conspicuous  personality 
in  the  diocese. 

Dr.  Quintard  had  then  recently  occupied  the 
chair  of  Physiology  and  Pathological  Anatomy  in 
the  Tennessee  Medical  College,  Memphis,  to 
which  he  had  been  elected  in  185 1.  He  was  a 
native  of  Stamford,  Conn.,  was  educated  in  New 
York  City,  and  had  received  his  degree  of  Doc- 
tor of  Medicine  from  the  University  of  the  City 
of  New  York  in  1846.  He  had  subsequently 
practiced  his  profession  in  Rome,  Ga.  His 
friendship  for  Bishop  Otey  had  led  his  mind  to 
the  ministry  of  the  Church,  and  he  had  been 
admitted  a  candidate  for  Holy  Orders  in  January, 
1854.     He  was  ordained  to  the  diaconate  in  Cal- 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  1 37 

vary  Church,  Memphis,  on  the  21st  of  January, 
1855,  and  began  at  once  a  career  as  missionary 
in  Tipton  County.  In  1856,  on  the  6th  of  Janu- 
ary, he  was  advanced  to  the  priesthood,  and  a 
year  later  he  entered  upon  his  duties  as  rector  of 
Calvary  Church,  Memphis.  The  next  fall,  how- 
ever, he  accepted  a  call  to  the  Church  of  the 
Advent,  Nashville,  having  charge  also  of  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity  in  the  same  city,  and 
extending  his  work  to  Edgefield  (now  East  Nash- 
ville and  the  parish  of  St.  Ann's).  In  this  field 
of  labor  he  was  the  parochial  successor  of  the 
Rev.  Charles  Tomes,  then  recently  deceased. 

From  the  time  of  his  ordination  to  the  priest- 
hood he  had  taken  an  active  interest  in  diocesan 
affairs.  He  served  on  the  Missionary  and  Edu- 
cational Committee,  as  deputy  to  the  General 
Convention  and  as  member  of  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee. He  became  familiar  with  every  detail  of 
diocesan  and  missionary  work,  and  uncon- 
sciously prepared  himself  to  receive  the  mantle 
of  the  great  Bishop  Otey. 


138  HISTORY   OF  THE  CHURCH   IN 

CHAPTER  XI. 

YEARS  THAT  THE  LOCUST  HATH  EATEN. 

The  thirty-third  annual  convention  of  the 
Church  in  the  Diocese  of  Tennessee  was  held  in 
St.  Thomas'  Church,  Somerville,  from  the  15th 
to  the  19th  of  May,  1861.  It  was  the  last  con- 
vention at  which  Bishop  Otey  presided,  though 
he  lived  until  nearly  two  years  later.  It  was  the 
last  convention  of  the  diocese  possible  until  the 
autumn  of  1 865.  The  journal  of  the  proceedings, 
in  manuscript,  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  a  print- 
ing office  in  Memphis,  to  which  it  had  been  com- 
mitted for  the  purpose  of  publication. 

It  was  a  time  of  doubt  and  perplexity.  Fort 
Sumpter  had  surrendered  a  month  before,  and 
war  had  begun  between  the  Northern  and  the 
Southern  States  of  the  American  Union.  Some 
of  the  latter  had  passed  ordinances  of  secession, 
and  the  President  of  the  United  States  had  issued 
a  call  for  75,000  volunteers  to  assist  the  Federal 
Army  in  putting  down  the  insurrection.  This 
State  had,  through  her  governor,  responded  to 
the  call  with  the  words,  "Tennessee  will  not 
furnish  a  single  man  for  coercion,  but  50,000,  if 
necessary,  for  the  defence  of  our  rights  and  those 
of  our  Southern  brethren." 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  1 39 

The  State  Legislature  had  passed  a  bill,  subject 
to  the  approval  of  her  citizens,  calling  for  a  State 
Convention  to  decide  whether  or  not  to  secede. 
The  popular  vote  taken  in  February  had  resulted 
in  more  than  67,000  against,  and  less  than 
55,000  in  favor  of  the  convention.  The  legisla- 
ture, however,  had,  on  the  ist  of  May,  by  joint 
resolution,  authorized  the  governor  to  enter  into 
a  military  league  with  the  seceded  States.  Seven 
days  later  the  legislature  proclaimed  its  inde- 
pendence of  the  United  States  Government  and 
its  abrogation  of  all  the  laws  and  ordinances  by 
which  Tennessee  had  become  a  member  of  the 
Federal  Union.  The  vote  in  June  to  sustain  this 
action  of  the  legislature  was  104,000.  That 
against  it  was  less  than  50,000.  The  opponents 
were  largely  from  East  Tennessee,  where  an 
abortive  attempt  was  subsequently  made  to  erect 
a  separate  state  to  remain  in  union  with  the  Fed- 
eral Government. 

The  mental  excitement  under  which  the  clergy 
and  lay  delegates  met  in  Somerville  may  perhaps 
be  imagined.  Though  they  did  not  know  how 
perilous  the  times  then  were — they  did  not  read 
in  the  mutterings  of  the  distant  thunder  the 
monitions  of  the  ruin  and  desolation  that  were 
to  sweep  over  their  fair  heritage  and  leave  such 
lasting  changes  upon  the  institutions,  the  poll- 


140  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

cies,  and  the  social  usages  of  our  country — yet  it 
was  really  in  the  midst  of  war's  alarums  that  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Vaulx  was  ordained  deacon  on  the  19th 
of  May,  that  St.  Thomas'  Church  was  conse- 
crated on  the  following  day,  and  that  other 
business  of  the  Church  was  transacted. 

When  called  to  order  on  the  14th  there  were 
six  clergymen  present,  among  whom  were  Dr. 
Pise  and  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Hines  and  Harrison. 
There  were,  however,  only  three  parishes  repre- 
sented by  lay  delegates.  The  following  day 
other  clergy  and  lay  delegates  arrived,  sufficient 
to  constitute  a  quorum,  and  the  convention 
organized.  The  excited  state  of  the  popular 
mind  appears  to  have  had  little  effect  upon  the 
proceedings  of  the  convention.  One  measure 
seems  to  have  survived  the  destruction  of  the 
official  records.  It  was  in  regard  to  a  training- 
school  for  candidates  for  the  ministry.  The 
resolution  regarding  this  measure  was  called  up 
in  a  special  convention  in  1865  and  re-affirmed. 
It  was  evident  that  the  thought  that  war  was  to 
engulf  the  land  was  not  uppermost  in  the  minds 
of  those  assembled  in  Somerville  in  May,  1861, 
on  the  business  of  the  diocese. 

But  a  meeting  of  the  clergy  was  held,  and 
after  discussion  it  was  decided  by  vote  to  leave 
to  the  individual  discretion  of  the  clergymen  the 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  I4I 

use  or  disuse  of  the  prayer  for  the  President  of 
the  United  States.  A  resolution  was  adopted  by 
the  convention  asking  the  Bishop  to  prepare  a 
pastoral  letter  recommending  the  observance  of 
every  Friday  as  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  dur- 
ing the  disturbed  condition  of  public  affairs. 
The  Committee  on  the  State  of  the  Church  was 
able  to  report  but  1,224  communicants  in  the 
diocese — an  apparent  decrease  from  the  previous 
year — possibly  due  to  the  incompleteness  of  the 
parochial  reports  submitted. 

Since  the  consecration  of  Bishop  Otey,  the 
several  dioceses  south  of  Tennessee  had  per- 
fected their  organization  by  the  election  of 
Bishops — Georgia  and  Louisiana  in  1841,  Ala- 
bama in  1844,  Mississippi  in  1850,  Florida  in 
1 85 1,  and  Texas  in  1859 — and  the  succession  of 
Bishops  exercising  jurisdiction  in  Arkansas  had 
been  kept  up  by  the  consecration  of  Bishop  Lay 
in  1859.  With  the  secession  of  the  Southern 
States  and  the  inauguration  of  the  Confederate 
Government,  there  was  started  a  movement  for 
the  conservation  of  the  Church  in  the  seceded 
States.  The  conditions  which  prevailed  after  the 
secession  and  after  the  opening  of  hostilities  be- 
tween the  great  political  sections  of  the  country, 
had  been  wholly  unforeseen  and,  therefore,  un- 
provided for  by  the  Church  in  her  organization 


142  HISTORY    OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

in  America;  and  the  question  which  arose  as  to 
what  should  be  done  in  the  premises  was  a 
debatable  one.  On  the  one  side,  Bishop  Polk, 
of  Louisiana,  and  Bishop  Elliott,  of  Georgia, 
favored  the  immediate  withdrawal  of  the 
Southern  dioceses  and  the  establishment  by  them 
of  a  National  Church,  to  correspond  with  the 
new  nation  which  they  felt  had  been  called  into 
existence.  From  this  view  (which  was  regarded 
by  its  opponents  as  savoring  of  "  Erastianism  " 
— a  term  frequently  used  with  as  little  meaning 
as  "the  Monroe  Doctrine,"  and  in  much  the 
same  way),  Bishop  Otey  agreed  with  Bishop 
Lay  in  dissenting.  He  did  not  think  (and  we 
find  him  expressing  this  view  as  late  as  the  latter 
part  of  August,  1861),  that  the  union  of  the 
Church  under  her  constitution  and  canons,  ought 
to  be  affected  at  all  by  the  changes  in  the  civil 
government. 

There  was  one  Southern  Bishop  who  was  hap- 
pily delivered  from  the  perplexity  which  arose 
about  this  matter.  Bishop  Cobbs,  of  Alabama, 
had  been  opposed  to  secession  and  had  prayed 
that  he  might  not  live  to  see  the  State  of  Ala- 
bama secede.  His  prayer  was  answered.  He 
died  on  the  nth  of  January,  1861.  The  same 
day,  at  a  later  hour,  the  legislature  of  Alabama 
passed  the  ordinance  of  secession. 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  1 43 

Circumstances,  however,  ruled  that  the  views 
of  Bishop  Polk  and  Bishop  Elliott  should  appar- 
ently prevail  for  a  while,  but  that  the  conclusions 
of  Bishop  Otey  should  prove  their  correctness  in 
the  end.  In  accordance  with  the  first  views,  a 
preliminary  council  was  held  in  Montgomery, 
Ala.,  in  July,  1861.  From  attendance  upon  this 
Bishop  Otey  was  detained  by  illness,  and  only 
Bishops  Polk,  Elliott,  Rutledge  (of  Florida),  and 
Davis  (of  South  Carolina),  were  in  attendance. 
Six  dioceses  were  represented  by  clerical  and  lay 
deputies.  They  adjourned  to  meet  in  Columbia, 
S.  C,  the  following  October  and  perfect  the 
organization  of  the  Church  in  the  Confederate 
States. 

Bishop  Otey  appointed  clerical  and  lay  dele- 
gates to  represent  his  diocese  in  the  Council  in 
October,  and  of  these  Dr.  Pise  and  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Hines  were  in  attendance.  The  Bishop  was  also 
able  to  attend,  but  his  part  in  the  proceedings 
was  always  with  a  reservation  respecting  the 
principle  which  he  felt  was  involved.  The 
"  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  Confederate 
States  of  America  "  was  organized,  and  a  Prayer 
Book  was  adopted  in  which  the  name  of  the 
"Confederate  States"  was  everywhere  substi- 
tuted for  that  of  the   "United  States"  (save  in 


144  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

one  instance,  by  a  curious  oversight).*  The  Dio- 
cese of  Arkansas,  previously  a  Missionary  Juris- 
diction of  the  Church  in  the  United  States,  was 
admitted  to  union  with  the  newly  organized 
National  Church. 

Shortly  afterwards  the  Diocese  of  Alabama 
elected  a  Bishop  to  fill  the  place  left  vacant  by 
the  death  of  Bishop  Cobbs,  and  the  Standing 
Committees  of  the  dioceses  in  the  Confederate 
States  were  asked  to  give  their  consent  to  his 
consecration.  He  was  consecrated  in  March, 
1862,  at  Richmond,  Va.,  by  Bishop  Meade,  the 
senior  Bishop  of  the  Southern  Church,  assisted 
by  Bishops  Johns  and  Elliott. 

Upon  the  death  of  Bishop  Meade  soon  after- 
wards, Bishop  Otey  became  the  senior  Bishop  of 
the  Church  in  the  Confederate  States.  But  he 
seems  never  to  have  exercised  the  functions  of 
Presiding  Bishop.  He  had  been  reprobated  for 
giving  his  consent  to  the  consecration  of  Bishop 
Stevens  for  the  Diocese  of  Pennsylvania,  though 
he  gave  the  like  free  consent  to  the  consecration 


^This  was  in  the  Forms  of  Prayer  to  be  used  at  sea, 
wherein  the  Confederate  navy  might  have  been  slightly  em- 
barrassed had  the  book  been  used  with  the  prayer,  "That  we 
may  be  a  safeguard  to  the  United  States  of  America,  and  a  se- 
curity for  such  as  pass  on  the  seas  on  their  lawful  occasions." 
See  McConnell  ''History  of  the  Episcopal  Church,"  seventh 
edition,  p.  371,  note. 


THE   DIOCESE  OF    TENNESSEE.  1 45 

of  Bishop  Wilmer  for  the  Diocese  of  Alabama. 
In  this  latter  action  he  was  seconded  by  the 
Standing  Committee  of  his  diocese,  which  also 
gave  consent  to  the  consecration  of  Bishop  Vail, 
of  Kansas,  in  October,  1864. 

In  the  war  that  followed  the  secession  of  the 
Southern  States,  Tennessee  was,  next  to  Vir- 
ginia, the  great  battleground  of  the  two  contend- 
ing armies.  It  was  impossible  that  the  Church 
should  avoid  any  of  the  horrors  which  war  inev- 
itably entails  upon  whatever  lies  in  its  track. 
Many  of  the  clergy  of  Tennessee  served  in  the 
army  of  the  Confederacy  as  chaplains.  Of  these 
were  the  Rev.  Dr.  Quintard,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Gray 
and  the  Rev.  George  C.  Harris.  The  first  named 
of  these  attained  to  an  unusual  prominence  in 
the  discharge  of  his  duties  as  chaplain  of  the 
First  Tennessee  regiment,  to  which  he  was 
elected  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war.  "In  1863, 
in  consideration  of  his  great  faithfulness  and 
efficiency,  in  compliance  with  the  request  of  his 
fellow  chaplains,  he  was  specially  assigned  by 
Gen.  Bragg  to  the  general  charge  of  all  the  hos- 
pitals of  Polk's  corps,  with  the  privilege  of  over- 
sight and  ministration  for  the  care  of  the  sick 
and  wounded."* 


^Bishop  Gailor,  Mem.  Ser.,  i< 


146  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

The  suspension  of  services  in  most  places,  the 
dispersion  of  congregations  and  the  spoliation  of 
church  edifices  were  natural  consequences  of  the 
war.  The  church  buildings  were  freely  offered 
as  hospitals  where  the  need  of  hospitals  was 
seen ;  but  they  were  more  frequently  taken  for 
ordnance  storehouses,  stables  or  barracks.  St. 
Paul's  Church,  Randolph;  St.  Andrew's,  Fayette 
County,  and  Trinity  Church,  Winchester,  were 
burned.  St.  Paul's  Church,  Chattanooga;  St. 
Paul's  Church,  Franklin;  the  Church  of  the  Holy 
Trinity,  Nashville,  and  Immanuel  Church,  La 
Grange,  were  sadly  desecrated  and  seriously  in- 
jured.* 


*lt  has  been  difficult  to  get  any  full  account  of  the  dam- 
age done  to  the  property  of  the  Church  during  the  war.  The 
following  notes  are  taken  from  reports  made  to  the  Diocesan 
Convention  of  1867.  St.  Paul's  Church,  Chattanooga,  was  oc- 
cupied by  the  army,  and  the  United  States  Government  subse- 
quently paid  $3,640  to  repair  the  damage  done  to  the  building 
by  its  military  occupants.  Immanuel  Church,  La  Grange,  a 
brick  building,  was  used  for  ordnance  storage.  The  windows 
and  blinds  were  broken,  chancel  furniture  and  surroundings 
destroyed,  seats  (used  for  coffins)  and  stoves  gone,  vestry  room 
destroyed,  and  walls  of  church  sadly  defaced.  St.  Paul's 
Church,  Franklin,  was  so  greatly  injured  by  the  Federal  troops 
that  its  sacred  character  seems  to  have  been  wholly  lost,  and  it 
was  occupied  subsequent  to  the  war  as  a  carpenter's  shop.  St. 
Peter's  Church,  Columbia,  was  closed  for  nearly  eighteen 
months  (1863-65)  by  military  order,  part  of  the  time  occupied 
as  a  hospital.  It  sustained  injuries,  including  the  total  destruc- 
tion of  the  organ,  not  to  be  repaired  for  less  than  $2,000.  Rav- 
enscroft  Chapel  was  in  ruins  at  the  close  of  the  war. 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  1 47 

But  the  heaviest  loss  which  the  Church  in  Ten- 
nessee was  called  upon  to  sustain  was  that  of 
her  noble  first  Bishop.  He  was  in  feeble  health 
when  the  war  broke  out,  but  he  bravely  stood  at 
his  post.  He  had  been  opposed  to  secession 
until  that  movement  was  a  foregone  conclusion, 
and  then  he  bestowed  his  sympathy  and  his 
prayers  upon  the  section  to  which  he  belonged. 
On  the  loth  of  May,  1861,  he  addressed  an  open 
letter  to  the  Hon.  William  H.  Seward,  Secretary 
of  State  in  President  Lincoln's  cabinet,  in  which 
he  summed  up  the  condition  of  affairs.  It  was 
a  masterly  document,  exhibiting  considerable 
statesmanship.  While  the  Federal  troops  were 
in  possession  of  Memphis,  the  Bishop  was 
treated  with  every  mark  of  respect  by  Gen. 
Sherman,  who  was  in  command,  and  Bishop 
Otey  was  able  to  do  much  towards  alleviating  the 
sufferings  of  the  citizens  and  soldiers.  Prayer 
Books  sent  to  him  by  Bishop  Potter,  of  New 
York,  were  distributed  among  the  soldiers  in 
the  camps.  With  the  assistance  of  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Hines,  he  maintained  services  at  St.  Mary's 
Church. 

But  the  strain  imposed  upon  him  by  the  dis- 
turbed condition  of  public  affairs,  added  to  the 
undermining  effects  of  the  arduous  labors  of  the 
Episcopate  upon  his  once  vigorous  constitution. 


148  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

told  upon  him  at  last.  The  early  months  of  1863 
were  months  of  continual  illness,  and  on  the 
23rd  of  April  he  entered  into  rest. 

His  body  rested  in  Memphis  until  after  the 
clouds  of  war  had  passed  away,  and  his  wishes 
in  regard  to  its  final  disposition  could  be  carried 
out.  Then  it  was  removed  to  Ashwood,  where 
in  the  churchyard  of  St.  John's  Church,  it  now 
rests  under  a  tomb,  by  his  direction,  inscribed 
with  his  name  and  the  simple  but  bold  state- 
ment: 

THE   FIRST   BISHOP  OF  THE   CATHOLIC 
CHURCH   IN   TENNESSEE. 

The  orphaned  diocese  had  to  wait  until  the 
return  of  peace  before  it  could  pay  fitting  honors 
to  the  memory  of  this  truly  great  and  good  man, 
who  had,  amid  toil  and  tribulation,  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  Church  of  Apostolic  Truth  and 
Order  in  Tennessee. 

The  organization  of  the  diocese  was  main- 
tained and  the  affairs  of  the  Church  were  admin- 
istered as  well  as  was  possible  by  the  Standing 
Committee  elected  at  the  Somerville  Convention 
in  1 86 1  and  holding  over  until  successors  could 
be  elected.  The  committee  was  composed  of 
the   Rev.  David   Pise,    D.D.,  the   Rev.  Charles 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  1 49 

Todd  Quintard,  M.D.,  the  Rev.  Joseph  James 
Ridley,  M.D.,  the  Hon.  Francis  B.  Fogg  and  Mr. 
James  B.  Craighead.  Bishop  Green,  of  Mississ- 
ippi, at  the  request  of  the  Standing  Committee, 
ordained  some  of  those  who  were  awaiting  ordi- 
nation, and  other  evidences  were  not  wanting 
that  the  Church  in  Tennessee,  though  perplexed, 
was  not  in  despair;  though  persecuted,  was  not 
forsaken,  and  though  cast  down,  was  not  de- 
stroyed. 

In  March,  1864,  the  Standing  Committee  in- 
vited Bishop  Smith,  of  Kentucky,  to  visit  the 
parishes  of  Nashville  and  other  places  within  the 
diocese,  and  to  perform  any  Episcopal  services 
that  might  be  required.  In  September  of  that 
year  a  similar  invitation  was  extended  to  Bishop 
Hawkes,  of  Missouri,  and  the  following  April 
the  invitation  was  extended  to  Bishop  White- 
house,  of  Illinois,  to  visit  Nashville.  The  atti- 
tude of  the  diocese  to  the  Church  in  the  North 
at  this  time  is  implied  by  a  similar  invitation  to 
Bishop  Hopkins,  of  Vermont,  the  Presiding 
Bishop  of  the  Church  in  America,  to  visit 
Memphis. 

In  other  and  perhaps  better  ways  Bishop  Hop- 
kins subsequently  showed  his  affectionate  re- 
gard for  the  orphaned  diocese.  Bishops  Smith, 
Hawkes  and  Whitehouse  complied  with  the  invi- 


ISO  HISTORY  OF   THE   CHURCH   IN 

tations  extended  to  them,  and  the  reports  they 
made  of  their  visits  are  exceedingly  interesting. 

Bishop  Smith  visited  Trinity  Church,  Clarks- 
ville,  in  April,  1865,  and  confirmed  there  five 
persons.  On  the  ist  of  May  he  confirmed  nine 
persons  in  Christ  Church,  Nashville,  and  ad- 
vanced to  the  priesthood  the  Rev.  Lucius  N. 
Voight,  deacon  and  post  chaplain  in  one  of  the 
hospitals  at  Knoxville.  The  Bishop  then  says, 
"  In  three  years  what  desolation  has  war  wrought 
upon  this  once  prosperous  diocese!  Out  of 
sixteen  parishes,  only  six  are  supplied  with  min- 
isters. The  Female  Seminary  at  Columbia,  the 
labor  of  Bishop  Otey's  life,  reduced  to  the 
dimensions  of  a  village  school;  the  church  at 
Chattanooga  a  ruin ;  and  Trinity  Church,  Nash- 
ville, by  far  the  finest  specimen  of  beautiful  stone 
Gothic  church  in  the  diocese,  soiled  and  dese- 
crated to  a  degree  enough  to  make  the  heart  of 
a  devout  Christian  bleed — a  small  organ  com- 
pletely rifled  and  destroyed  and  the  chaste  and 
beautiful  stained  glass  windows  a  mass  of  ruins! 

"No  blame  is  here  intended  to  be  thrown 
upon  any  one.  The  terrible  track  of  war  too 
often  leaves  such  desolation  behind  it.  .  . 
As  I  beheld  these  desolations,  'What,'  1  ex- 
claimed, *  would  have  been  the  emotions  of  the 
Rev.   Mr.  Tomes,  the   projector  of  this  church 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  I5I 

improvement,  could  he  now  witness  what  I  here 
deplore!'  And  to  think  of  that  indefatigable, 
long-suffering  man  of  God,  the  first  Bishop  of 
this  diocese,  living  to  hear  of  all  this  destruction, 
and  outlasting  those  works  of  his  hands  which 
he  supposed  would  have  endured  for  ages. 

"You,  dear  brethren,  feel  as  1  feel,  'that  if 
any  member  suffer,  all  the  members  suffer  with 
it' ;  and  I  have  drawn  this  sad  picture,  not  that 
you  may  shed  unavailing  tears,  but  that  you  may 
hold  forth  a  helping  hand  to  a  sister  diocese  in 
her  distress,  and  unite  your  prayers  with  mine, 
that  God  would  be  graciously  pleased  speedily 
to  restore  the  waste  places  of  our  Zion!" 

Bishop  Smith  visited  Clarksville  again  on  the 
30th  of  May,  1865,  and  confirmed  twenty-three 
persons. 

Bishop  Hawkes  visited  Memphis  in  January, 
1865,  and  confirmed,  in  Calvary  Church,  sixty- 
five  persons;  in  St.  Mary's  Church,  nineteen 
persons,  and  in  Grace  Church,  nine  persons.  He 
would  have  visited  other  points  in  West  Ten- 
nessee, but  found  it  impracticable,  owing  to  the 
disturbed  and  unsafe  condition  of  the  country. 
"The  Church  in  Memphis,"  he  says,  "was 
working  well  considering  all  circumstances. 
But  in  Tennessee  1  found  she  was,  as  she  is  in 
Missouri,  largely  desolated  by  war." 


152  HISTORY   OF   THE    CHURCH    IN 

Bishop  Whitehouse  visited  Nashville  in  May, 
1865,  and  confirmed  twenty-three  persons  in 
Christ  Church.  "My  visit,"  he  writes,  "of 
several  days  was  filled  with  kind  attentions  and 
affectionate  hospitality,  and  my  only  regret  was 
that  1  could  do  so  little  for  the  orphaned  diocese. 
I  felt  deep  sympathy  and  interest." 


THE   DIOCESE    OF  TENNESSEE.  I  53 

CHAPTER  XII. 

THE   INAUGURATION   OF   A   NEW   REGIME. 

On  the  9th  of  April,  1865,  occurred  the  sur- 
render at  Appomattox,  and  on  the  12th  of  that 
month  certain  orders  were  issued  from  the  War 
Department  at  Washington  that  served  as  a  vir- 
tual proclamation  that  the  war,  which  had  swept 
over  the  Southern  country  for  four  years  and 
had  wrought  sad  havoc  to  the  Church  in  Ten- 
nessee, was  at  an  end.  On  the  14th  of  June  the 
Standing  Committee  of  the  diocese  issued  a  call 
for  a  special  convention  to  meet  in  Christ  Church, 
Nashville,  on  the  6th  of  the  following  Septem- 
ber. 

There  were  twenty-five  clergymen  canonically 
resident  in  the  diocese  and  entitled  to  seats  in 
this  convention.  Thirteen  of  these  were  present 
on  the  day  appointed  and  three  others  subse- 
quently appeared  and  took  their  seats.  The  fol- 
lowing parishes  were  represented  by  lay  dele- 
gates: Christ  Church,  the  Church  of  the  Holy 
Trinity  and  the  Church  of  the  Advent,  Nashville; 
Calvary  Church,  Grace  Church  and  St.  Mary's, 
Memphis;  Trinity  Church,  Clarksville;  St.  Luke's, 


154  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   IN 

Jackson;  St,  John's,  Knoxville;  St.  James',  Boli- 
var; St.  Paul's,  Franklin;  St.  Peter's,  Columbia; 
St.  Stephen's,  Edgefield;  Trinity  Church,  Tipton 
County;  St.  John's,  Ashwood,  and  St.  Mark's, 
Williamsport. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  David  Pise  was  elected  president 
of  the  convention  and  the  Rev.  Richard  Hines 
was  elected  secretary,  an  office  which  he  had 
held  in  two  previous  conventions. 

A  special  solemnity  was  given  to  the  proceed- 
ings on  the  second  day  by  the  announcement 
that  one  of  the  lay  delegates  from  St.  Mary's 
Church,  Memphis,  had  died  on  the  way  to  the 
convention;  and  still  further  by  the  information 
that  the  body  of  Bishop  Otey  was  en  route  to  St. 
John's  Church,  Ashwood,  for  final  interment. 
Three  clergymen  and  three  laymen  were  ap- 
pointed a  committee  to  receive  the  body  in  Nash- 
ville and  make  arrangements  for  forwarding  it  to 
its  destination. 

After  the  transaction  of  some  business  of  an 
ordinary  character,  the  convention  proceeded  to 
the  election  of  a  Bishop.  About  the  middle  of 
the  afternoon  of  Thursday,  the  7th  of  Septem- 
ber, the  president  of  the  convention  announced 
that  the  clergy,  by  an  almost  unanimous  vote, 
had  nominated  the  Rev.  Charles  Todd  Quintard, 
M.D.,  for  Bishop  of  Tennessee.     The  laity  re- 


BISHOP   QUINTARU 


THE    DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  1 55 

tired  to  consider  the  nomination  and  soon 
returned  and  reported  that  the  nomination  had 
been  ratified  by  a  majority  of  the  parishes.  The 
formal  announcement  was  thereupon  made  that 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Quintard  had  been  duly  elected 
Bishop  of  Tennessee.  His  testimonials  were 
signed  on  the  following  day  by  fourteen  clergy- 
men and  by  fifteen  laymen,  representing  eleven 
parishes. 

Before  the  adjournment  of  the  convention  a 
resolution  was  introduced  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
George  White,  and  promptly  seconded  by  the 
Bishop-elect,  looking  to  the  division  of  the  dio- 
cese and  the  establishment  of  a  "See  Episco- 
pate "  in  the  cities  of  Knoxville,  Nashville  and 
Memphis;  and  instructing  the  delegates  to  the 
General  Convention  to  meet  that  year  to  lay 
this  subject  before  that  body  and  urge  its  adop- 
tion 

On  the  following  Sunday  the  Rev.  Dr.  Pise 
held  appropriate  services  in  St.  Peter's  Church, 
Columbia,  where  the  body  of  the  first  Bishop  of 
Tennessee  was  resting  for  a  while  on  its  way  to 
the  place  selected  for  its  final  sepulture.  Later 
in  the  day,  in  St.  John's  churchyard,  Ashwood, 
in  the  presence  of  Dr.  Pise,  the  Rev.  John  A. 
Harrison,  the  Rev.  Charles  F.  Collins,  and  a  mul- 
titude of  friends  from  the  surrounding  country, 


156  HISTORY  OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

he  who  had  been  elected  to  bear  the  mantle  of 
the  sturdy  prelate,  committed  the  body  of  his 
predecessor  to  the  ground,  "looking  for  the 
general  Resurrection  in  the  last  day  and  the  life 
of  the  world  to  come,  through  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ."  The  solemn  scene  was  significant  of 
the  close  of  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  the 
Church  in  the  Diocese  of  Tennessee  and  the 
opening  of  a  new  one. 

All  doubt  as  to  the  status  of  the  dioceses  in 
the  Southern  States  was  dispelled  at  the  meeting 
of  the  General  Convention  in  Philadelphia  in  the 
autumn  of  1865.  The  dioceses  which  had 
united  to  constitute  the  Church  in  the  Confeder- 
ate States  of  America  had  never  been  dropped 
from  the  roll  of  the  General  Convention.  They 
had  been  duly  called  with  the  other  dioceses, 
in  alphabetical  order,  beginning  with  Alabama, 
each  day  of  the  General  Convention  meeting  in 
New  York  in  1862.  Though  absent,  the  right 
of  the  Southern  dioceses  to  be  present  was  not 
denied.  They  were  still  regarded  as  members 
of  the  American  National  Church. 

Two  Bishops  from  the  South  were  present  at 
the  General  Convention  of  1865,  and  responded 
to  the  roll-call  of  the  Bishops  when  made  at  the 
organization  of  the  House  of  Bishops      Clerical 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  I  57 

and  lay  deputies  from  North  Carolina  and  Texas, 
as  well  as  from  Tennessee,  answered  to  their 
names  when  the  roll  was  called  in  the  House  of 
Clerical  and  Lay  Deputies.  The  two  Southern 
Bishops  received  a  hearty  welcome  from  their 
Northern  brethren  of  the  Episcopate.  And  when 
the  report  was  made  to  the  House  of  Deputies 
on  the  consecration  of  Dr.  Quintard,  Bishop- 
elect  of  Tennessee,  although  his  attitude  toward 
the  Federal  Government  throughout  the  war  had 
been  especially  conspicuous  through  his  official 
position  in  the  Confederate  Army,  there  was  but 
one  dissenting  vote. 

In  the  religious  services  of  the  convention  no 
personal  or  sectional  prejudices  were  allowed  to 
interrupt  the  heartiness  of  the  thanksgiving  for 
the  restoration  of  peace  to  the  country  and  unity 
to  the  Church. 

Thus  did  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in 
the  United  States  act  fully  in  accord  with  her 
Catholic  principles  at  a  very  trying  period  of  her 
existence,  and  verify  the  words  of  Calhoun : 
"The  Episcopal  Church  is  the  only  one  of  the 
four  great  Protestant  denominations  which  re- 
mained unbroken  and  entire.  .  .  .  Power- 
ful as  the  others  were,  they  have  not  been  able 
to  resist  the  explosive  effects  of  the  slavery 
agitation." 


1^8  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

Dr.  Quintard's  consecration  crowned  the  work 
of  reunion  by  a  significant  act.  It  took  place  in 
St.  Luke's  Church,  Philadelphia,  in  the  presence 
of  the  General  Convention,  on  Wednesday,  the 
iith  of  October,  1865.  The  sermon  was 
preached  by  the  Bishop  of  Pennsylvania.  The 
Right  Rev.  John  Henry  Hopkins,  D.D.,  Bishop 
of  Vermont  and  Presiding  Bishop,  was  the  con- 
secrator.  Bishops  Burgess,  of  Maine;  Atkinson, 
of  North  Carolina;  Coxe,  of  Western  New  York; 
Odenheimer,  of  New  Jersey;  Bedell,  of  Ohio, 
and  Stevens,  of  Pennsylvania,  united  in  the  act 
of  consecration,  as  did  also  the  Right  Rev. 
Francis  Fulford,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  Montreal  and 
Metropolitan  of  Canada,  whose  presence  "con- 
tributed to  a  growing  sense  of  the  unity  of  the 
Church  throughout  the  whole  American  conti- 
nent."* 


*  Tiffany,  "  History  of  the  Protestant   Episcopal  Church," 
p.  504. 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  1 59 

CHAPTER   XIII. 

STRENGTHENING  THE   THINGS   THAT   REMAINED. 

The  new  Bishop  returned  to  his  diocese  on 
the  24th  of  November,  1865,  and  on  the  28th  he 
held  his  first  service  as  the  Bishop  of  Tennessee 
in  Calvary  Church,  Memphis,  where  he  con- 
firmed twenty-eight  persons.  He  began  forth- 
with a  series  of  visitations  over  the  greater  part 
of  his  large  diocese,  noting  everywhere  the 
devastating  effects  of  the  war  upon  the  Church. 
He  confirmed  three  hundred  and  fourteen  per- 
sons in  the  course  of  these  visitations. 

In  his  journeyings  he  reached  Sewanee  on 
Thursday,  the  22nd  of  March,  1866,  in  company 
with  the  Rev.  Thomas  A.  Morris,  rector  of  Trin- 
ity Church,  Winchester;  the  Rev.  Dr.  J.  Austin 
Merrick  (then  recently  arrived  in  the  diocese  to 
assist  the  Bishop  in  carrying  out  his  schemes  for 
a  diocesan  training-school),  and  Major  George  R. 
Fairbanks,  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  University 
of  the  South.  Together  they  went  to  "  Univer- 
sity Place,"  where,  on  the  9th  of  October,  i860, 
Bishop  Polk,  assisted  by  Bishop  Otey  and  others, 
had  laid  the  corner-stone  of  the  University  build- 
ing.    With  the  exception  of  an  old  log  cabin,  all 


l6o  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   IN 

the  buildings  erected  in  that  locality  before  the 
war  had  been  burned  by  the  Federal  soldiers 
who  had  encamped  there.  The  corner-stone — 
a  block  of  marble  weighing  six  tons — was 
broken  up  and  entirely  removed.  In  short,  noth- 
ing remained  of  the  University  of  the  South  but 
its  charter  and  a  magnificent  domain  of  nearly 
10,000  acres. 

The  Bishop  selected  locations  for  the  buildings 
necessary  for  the  diocesan  training-school,  which 
it  was  his  immediate  purpose  to  establish, 
and  in  the  evening  erected  a  cross  on  the  site 
selected  for  the  chapel,  gathered  the  workmen 
about  it,  and  asked  the  blessing  of  the  Great 
Head  of  the  Church  upon  the  undertaking.  The 
Apostles'  Creed  was  said  and  the  grand  old  woods 
rang  with  the  Gloria  in  Excelsis.* 

This  was  virtually  the  re-founding  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  the  South.  There  seemed  little  hope  at 
the  time  of  reviving  the  scheme  of  the  ante 
bellum  Bishops.  The  endowment  of  nearly  half 
a  million  secured  by  the  personal  efforts  of 
Bishop  Polk  and  Bishop  Elliott  before  the  war 
had  been  swept  away.  But  Bishop  Quintard 
was  determined  and  persistent.  In  1867  a  reor- 
ganization  was  effected  under  the  charter  and 


*  Bishop  Quintard.     Conv.  Ad.,  Journ.,  i866. 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  l6l 

the  Bishop  was  elected  Vice-Chancellor.  A 
grammar  school  was  opened  at  Sewanee  with 
njne  pupils.  The  Bishop  summoned  the  Church- 
men of  the  South  to  the  great  undertaking.  He 
traveled  far  and  wide  in  the  Southern  States, 
and  in  the  years  1867  and  1868  in  England,  get- 
ting subscriptions,  making  appeals  and  winning 
friends  for  the  enterprise.  His  magnetism  and 
his  faith  drew  around  him  at  Sewanee  first  two 
or  three  of  the  Bishops,  and  then  a  band  of  high- 
minded  and  consecrated  clergymen  and  laymen, 
of  fine  scholarship  and  noble  aims,  whose  splen- 
did sacrifice  set  high  the  standard  of  the  institu- 
tion and  invested  it  with  a  poetic  beauty  and 
sacredness  that  dwell  there  still,  and  more  than 
compensate  for  the  poverty  and  trials  of  those 
early  years.*  In  1871  the  Academic  Department 
of  the  University  was  organized  with  five  pro- 
fessors. In  1876  the  Theological  Department 
was  opened  with  four  professors.  By  that  time 
the  heroic  struggle  of  the  University  of  the  South 
had  begun  to  attract  admiring  attention;  gifts 
began  to  flow  into  it,  and  not  only  its  continued 
existence,  but  its  ultimate  success  were  assured. 
Buildings  began  to  grow  up,  and  there  was 
a  visible  advance   towards   the  ideal   that  had 


*  Bishop  Gailor.     Mem.  Ser.,  p.  8. 


1 62  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   IN 

been  set  for  it  by  its  founders  and  its  re-founder. 
Broader  than  diocesan  in  its  scope  and  purpose, 
the  history  of  the  University  of  the  South  is  yet 
intimately  connected  with  that  of  the  diocese. 
When,  in  1891,  Bishop  Quintard  presented  to 
the  Diocesan  Convention  sitting  that  year,  a  list 
of  ordinations  held  in  the  diocese  since  its 
organization,  he  called  attention  to  the  fact  that 
out  of  seventy-three  men  ordained  during  his 
Episcopate,  twenty-eight  had  been  educated  at 
the  University  of  the  South.  On  the  clergy  list 
of  the  diocese  in  1898,  out  of  forty-two  priests 
and  eight  deacons,  eleven  were  alumni  of  the 
University.  But  there  seems  to  be  no  means  of 
determining  the  extent  of  the  University's  influ- 
ence upon  the  Church  life  of  Tennessee  through 
the  education  it  has  provided  for  the  laymen  of 
the  diocese. 

The  Bishop  early  observed  that  the  missionary 
enterprises  of  the  diocese  had  been  very  circum- 
scribed. There  had  for  years  been  a  Diocesan 
Missionary  Society  in  existence,  but  it  had 
scarcely  justified  its  existence  by  doing  any 
work.  The  Bishop  proposed,  therefore,  to  the 
first  convention  over  which  he  presided,  a  com- 
plete reorganization  of  the  missionary  work  of 
the  diocese  and  the  inauguration  of  a  system  for 


THE   DIOCESE  OF   TENNESSEE.  1 63 

which  the  time  seemed  propitious.  The  clergy 
of  the  city  of  Memphis  had  already  united  with 
him  in  the  formation  of  a  cathedral  chapter,  St. 
Mary's  Church  had  been  selected  for  the  cathedral 
and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hines  had  been  appointed 
dean. 

But  this  arrangement  did  not  become  imme- 
diately effective.  The  cathedral  system  was  not 
formally  adopted  until  the  Feast  of  the  Circum- 
cision, 1 87 1.  On  that  day,  after  a  celebration  of 
the  Holy  Communion  by  the  Bishop,  assisted  by 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Hines  and  the  Rev.  John  A.  Harri- 
son, the  Bishop  submitted  to  the  congregation  of 
St.  Mary's  Church,  resolutions  adopted  by  the 
wardens  and  vestrymen  of  the  parish  on  the 
previous  Christmas  Eve  tendering  the  church  to 
the  Bishop  for  a  cathedral,  and  requesting  him 
to  organize  the  cathedral  system.  The  resolution 
was  unanimously  ratified  by  the  congregation, 
and  the  rector,  wardens  and  vestrymen  presented 
the  keys  of  the  edifice  to  the  Bishop,  who  for- 
mally received  them  on  behalf  of  himself  and  his 
successors  in  office. 

Thus  culminated  various  attempts  to  provide 
a  church  for  the  Bishop  of  Tennessee.  Calvary 
Church  had  been  offered  for  that  purpose  in 
1866.  An  attempt  was  subsequently  made  to 
unite  two  other  Memphis  parishes  for  the  forma- 


164  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH    IN 

tion  of  a  cathedral,  but  St.  Mary's  Church  became 
in  fact  the  Bishop's  church.  The  residence  occu- 
pied by  Bishop  Otey  had  become  in  the  mean- 
time the  property  of  the  diocese  for  a  permanent 
Episcopal  residence. 

Tennessee  was,  therefore,  among  the  earliest 
of  the  American  dioceses  to  adopt  the  cathedral 
system  in  one  of  its  simpler  forms,  and  was  one 
of  the  first  to  provide  itself  with  a  cathedral. 
Subsequent  efforts  to  give  the  cathedral  some 
canonical  status  were  less  successful.  The  con- 
vention of  1873  failed  to  adopt  a  proposed  canon 
whereby  the  cathedral  chapter  was  to  constitute 
the  Board  of  Missions  for  the  diocese.  The 
present  cathedral  canon  merely  protects  St. 
Mary's  Cathedral  in  the  rights  previously  inhering 
as  a  parish  church. 

The  proposition  was  made  as  early  as  1866  to 
divide  the  diocese  outside  the  city  of  Memphis 
into  three  districts,  for  each  of  which  the  Bishop 
was  to  appoint  a  Rural  Dean,  who  was  to  be 
responsible  for  all  the  missionary  work  within 
the  bounds  of  his  deanery.  The  committee  to 
whom  this  proposition  was  submitted  for  con- 
sideration reported  in  favor  of  the  convocational 
system  and  the  division  of  the  diocese  into  the 
three  convocations  which  now  exist  under  the 
names  of  the  three  chief  cities  of  the  State.    This 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  165 

was  by  no  means  the  actual  inauguration  of  the 
convocational  system  in  Tennessee,  however. 
The  system  was  canonically  established  in  1867, 
and  the  canon  was  subsequently  revised.  At 
first  the  "Western  District"  was  made  to  com- 
prise all  the  clergy  resident  in  West  Tennessee, 
and  it  was  their  duty  to  attend  the  meetings  of 
the  convocation  when  called.  The  Rev.  Dr. 
Hines,  Dean  of  the  Cathedral,  was  to  be  the  pre- 
siding officer  whenever  the  meetings  were  held 
in  Memphis,  and  the  Rev.  John  A.  Harrison, 
Rector  of  St.  Luke's  Church,  Jackson,  the  pre- 
siding officer  whenever  the  meeting  was  held 
elsewhere.  Much  excellent  missionary  work 
was  done  by  very  efficient  general  missionaries 
(the  Rev.  George  N.  James,  for  example),  and 
some  Associate  Missions  were  attempted  from 
time  to  time  in  the  effort  to  carry  out  the  Bishop's 
missionary  enterprises.  But  the  convocational 
system  was  not  made  a  practical  working  scheme 
until  between  1885  and  1890,  when  its  success 
was  doubtless  due  to  its  being  in  the  hands  of 
such  deans  as  the  Rev.  Dr.  George  Patterson,  of 
the  Convocation  of  Memphis;  the  Rev.  Dr.  Henry 
R.  Howard,  of  the  Convocation  of  Nashville,  and 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Ringgold,  of  the  Convoca- 
tion of  Knoxville.  And  their  work  has  since 
been  taken  up  and  pursued  with  good  results  by 


1 66  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

the  Rev.  Joseph  E.  Martin,  of  Jackson;  the  Rev. 
T.  F.  Martin,  of  Nashville,  and  the  Rev.  Joseph 
H.  Blacklock,  formerly  of  Cleveland.  The  reports 
of  these  deans  to  the  annual  conventions  are  the 
reports  of  faithful  service  with  good  results. 

It  is  wrong  to  assume,  as  seems  to  have  been 
quite  widely  assumed,  that  the  Churchmanship 
of  Bishop  Quintard  was  so  different  from  that  of 
his  predecessor  that  the  two  were  contradictory. 
In  a  certain  sense  the  Churchmanship  of  the 
second  Bishop  of  Tennessee  was  that  of  Bishop 
Otey  naturally  developed  under  the  conditions 
which  prevailed  during  the  years  when  it  was 
given  to  Bishop  Quintard  to  exercise  the  Episco- 
pal oifice  in  Tennessee.  And  it  would  be  difficult 
to  write  the  history  of  the  Church  in  the  Diocese 
of  Tennessee  without  referring  to  the  changed 
conditions  which  made  the  two  Bishops,  who 
were  really  of  the  same  rugged,  manly  type  of 
Churchmanship,  appear  to  be  of  such  totally  dif- 
ferent schools  of  thought. 

The  Oxford  movement  had  its  rise  in  England 
about  the  time  of  Bishop  Otey's  election  and 
consecration  to  the  Episcopate.  But  it  took 
some  years  for  its  effects  to  be  felt  in  this  new 
country,  and  it  has  taken  many  more  years  for 

t   movement  to  be  understood  here  and  appre- 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  1 67 

dated  at  its  true  value.  For  a  long  time  the 
defection  to  Rome  of  one  of  the  leaders  in  the 
movement  and  of  some  of  his  personal  followers 
was  regarded  as  the  most  prominent  and  signifi- 
cant event  connected  with  the  Oxford  movement. 
And  the  defection  of  the  successor  of  Bishop 
Ravenscroft  in  the  Episcopate  of  North  Carolina 
was  regarded  as  a  direct  result  of  Tractarianism. 
This  naturally  caused  the  movement  to  be  viewed 
with  suspicion  on  this  side  of  the  water,  and  the 
more  so  as  its  earliest  phases  were  a  wild  and 
extravagant  manifestation  of  "ritualism." 

Bishop  Otey  was  not  a  party  man.  The  High 
Churchmen  (and  that  term  had  a  meaning  then 
which  it  has  not  now,  and  was  a  distinctly  party 
name)  never  quite  forgave  him  for  the  part  he 
took  in  the  presentation  of  Bishop  Onderdonk 
for  trial.  The  Low  Churchmen  were  equally 
unforgiving  because  of  his  outspoken  words 
against  the  Evangelical  Knowledge  Society.  He 
was  a  "  Catholic,  Prayer-Book  Churchman  of  the 
old  school,"*  and  he  was  not  a  Ritualist.  It 
was  rather  too  early  in  the  history  of  the  Ameri- 
can Episcopate  for  any  Bishops  to  be  found 
avowed  members  of  the  Ritualistic  party. 

For  this  reason  it  required  as  much  courage 


5.  Green.     Mem.,  p.  66. 


1 68  HISTORY    OF   THE   CHURCH   IN 

for  Bishop  Quintard  to  refuse  to  sign  the  Anti- 
Ritualistic  memorial  in  1866  as  for  Bishop  Otey 
to  refuse,  in  1857,  to  consecrate  a  church  before 
certain  objects  had  been  removed,  which  seemed 
to  him  to  symbolize  the  heresies  of  Rome,  or  to 
speak  and  write  as  he  did  of  the  Evangelical 
Knowledge  Society.  And  when  Bishop  Quin- 
tard gave  his  reasons  for  not  signing  the  Anti- 
Ritualists'  Declaration,  in  his  address  before  the 
Convention  of  1867,  he  showed  that  he  was  in 
advance  of  the  times  and  foresaw  then  most 
clearly  that  the  drift  of  the  Oxford  movement, 
even  in  its  most  suspected  phase  of  ritualism,  was 
not  necessarily  Romeward,  and  that  it  might 
result  in  great  good  to  the  Church  in  America. 

It  was  a  strong  and  virile  type  of  Churchman- 
ship  which  Bishop  Otey  had  maintained  and  set 
forward  in  Tennessee.  He  had  believed  the 
Church  to  be  the  one  undivided  Bride  of  Christ, 
with  no  element  of  division  or  sectarianism  in 
her;  that  in  her  creeds  she  held  in  its  integrity 
the  Faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints ;  that  she 
had  a  Divine  Order,  connecting  her,  clear  back 
through  the  ages  with  the  Apostles  and  Christ; 
that  she  was  the  appointed  teacher  and  preserver 
of  all  true  religion  and  virtue;  and,  finally,  that 
to  our  portion  of  the  Church,  the  country  in  which 
we  live  would  one  day  look  for  help  amid  her 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  169 

social  and  political  trials.  He  had  familiarized 
the  Diocese  of  Tennessee  with  the  great  truth  of 
the  spiritual  character  of  the  Church,  her  Catholic 
claims,  her  Apostolic  ministry.  He  had  taught 
men  of  the  birth  into  Christ  by  Baptism  and  of 
the  life  in  Christ  by  the  Holy  Communion.* 

But  in  the  decade  which  saw  the  death  of 
Bishop  Otey  and  the  election  of  Dr.  Quintard  to 
the  Episcopate,  there  was  danger  of  receding 
from  this  strong  type  of  Churchmanship  and 
attempting  to  gain  favor  with  those  outside  of 
the  Church  by  compromising  the  Church's  claims 
and  committing  her  to  the  narrowness  of  the 
popular  religions.  Bishop  Quintard  saw  from 
the  start  that  the  Oxford  movement  meant  no 
more  than  the  reassertion  of  those  Church  prin- 
ciples which  had  been  steadily  maintained  in 
this  country  by  a  long  line  of  Bishops,  his  prede- 
cessor among  them,  and  that  their  more  emphatic 
assertion  was  the  best  defence  against  Roman- 
ism, f     He  was  able  to  see,  as  Bishop  Otey  had 


*Cf.  Bp.  Green,  Mem.  Bp.  Otey,  p.  122.  Bp.  Gailor. 
Mem.  Ser.,  p.  1 1. 

f  It  is  significant  that  of  the  clergy  canonically  resident  in 
Tennessee  during  the  thirty-three  years  of  Bishop  Quintard's 
Episcopate,  but  two  defected  to  Rome,  while  three  were  re- 
ceived from  the  Church  of  Rome  during  the  same  period:  and 
the  three  received  were  men  of  greater  value  than  those  the 
Church  lost. 


170  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   IN 

not  lived  long  enough  to  see,  that  the  result  of 
the  Oxford  movement  had  been  a  marvellous 
transformation  of  the  work  and  power  of  the 
Church  of  England,  the  increase  of  her  influence, 
her  charities  and  her  missionary  enterprises.* 

And  so  with  one  of  the  phases  of  the  Oxford 
movement — ritualism — Bishop  Quintard  was  in 
advance  of  his  time  in  the  early  years  of  his 
Episcopate.  But  he  was  able  to  wait  patiently 
for  the  Episcopate  to  fill  up  with  men  who  went 
even  in  advance  of  him.  He  was  never  an 
extremist — judged  by  the  standard  of  the  present 
day.  And  he  steadily  prevented  any  form  of 
ritual  gaining  in  his  diocese  that  was  not  in  good 
taste,  that  had  not  the  sanction  of  catholic  usage, 
or  that  was  the  expression  of  aught  but  the 
"beauty  of  holiness."  And  he  succeeded  in 
improving  the  tone  of  the  services  in  the  Diocese 
of  Tennessee  and  bringing  them  into  nearer  com- 
pliance with  the  Paulian  rule  of  decency  and 
order: — (that  is,  set  rule.) 

it  was  especially  gratifying  to  Bishop  Quintard, 
in  his  address  to  the  Diocesan  Convention  meet- 
ing in  May,  1887,  to  use  these  words:  "Many 
of  the  churches  have  been  improved  and  beauti- 
fied.    There  is  an  evident  growth  in  churchly 


*Bp.  Gailor.     Mem.  Ser.,  p.  10. 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  I7I 

and  religious  life.  The  services  in  most  of  our 
parishes  are  more  reverent  and  beautiful  and 
hearty.  We  are  gradually  getting  a  better  style  of 
ecclesiastical  music.  In  the  six  or  eight  parishes 
in  which  surpliced  choirs  have  been  introduced, 
they  have  given  great  satisfaction  to  the  wor- 
shippers. Our  Common  Prayer  requires  common 
praise,  and  it  is  simply  impossible  for  the  con- 
gregation to  unite  in  praising  God  in  psalms  and 
hymns  with  a  quartette  choir,  with  their  florid 
and  elaborate  style  of  music." 

One  of  the  fruits  of  the  Oxford  movement 
was  the  establishment  of  Sisterhoods.  They 
had  been  included  in  the  desiderata  of  the  memo- 
rialists, with  whom  Bishop  Otey  had  been  intim- 
ately connected;  and  the  General  Convention,  in 
acting  upon  the  memorial,  had  thought  best  to 
leave  the  regulations  regarding  them  untrammeled 
by  canonical  provisions.  The  first  Sisterhood 
arose  in  New  York  in  1843,  and  was  formally 
constituted  nine  years  later.  The  first  Sister  was 
"admitted"  in  1857.  The  Sisterhood  of  St. 
Mary  came  into  being  in  New  York  in  1865. 
The  Sisters  were  popularly  regarded  as  one  of 
the  distinctive  marks  of  the  much-dreaded  "  High 
Church,"  and  it  required  no  small  amount  of 
courage  on  the  part  of  Bishop  Quintard  to  invite 
them   to   his  diocese   in  1870  to   assist   him  in 


172  HISTORY   OF  THE  CHURCH   IN 

Strengthening  the  things  that  remained.  But 
they  soon  had  the  opportunity  to  prove  their 
value  to  the  Church  by  their  heroic  conduct 
during  successive  epidemics. 

One  incident  alone  in  the  annals  of  the  diocese 
is  sufficient  to  justify  the  action  of  the  Bishop  in 
securing  the  work  of  the  Sisters,  and  to  justify 
the  existence  of  Sisterhoods  in  the  work  of  the 
Church  in  America.  In  July,  1878,  Sisters  Con- 
stance and  Thecla,  of  the  Sisters  of  St.  Mary, 
went  to  New  York  for  needed  rest  and  refresh- 
ment. Two  weeks  later  the  news  followed 
them  that  yellow  fever  had  broken  out  in  Mem- 
phis, and  Sisters  Constance  and  Thecla  returned 
at  once  to  the  plague-stricken  city  to  give  up 
their  lives  a  sacrifice  for  others.  Two  other 
Sisters  died  of  the  fever  that  year.  And  after 
this  heroic  manifestation  of  the  spirit  of  self- 
sacrifice  which  was  seen  to  animate  the  Sister- 
hood, the  voice  of  opposition  was  effectually 
hushed.  The  Sisters  added  St.  Mary's  School  to 
the  number  of  Church  schools  in  the  diocese,  and 
have  presented  the  noble  evidences  of  their 
devoted  work  in  the  Church  Orphans'  Home  in 
Memphis. 


THE   DIOCESE  OF   TENNESSEE.  1 73 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

AN   ERA   OF  ECCLESIASTICAL   ARCHITECTURE. 

The  condition  in  which  the  war  had  left  the 
material  possessions  of  the  Church  in  the  Diocese 
of  Tennessee  probably  occasioned  the  outspoken 
words  of  Bishop  Quintard  in  his  address  before 
the  Diocesan  Convention  of  1867.  It  was  a  sad 
reflection  that  the  people  of  the  diocese  had  yet 
to  erect  the  first  temple  to  the  honor  and  glory 
of  God  that  would  be  worthy  of  His  worship  or 
a  fitting  expression  of  their  love  and  devotion  to 
that  blessed  Saviour  Who  had  laid  down  His  life 
for  them.  The  people  of  Tennessee  had  invoked 
the  taste  and  skill  of  the  architect  and  the  patient 
toil  of  the  laborer  in  building  houses  in  which 
they  and  their  children  might  dwell,  but  they 
had  refused  them  to  God's  holy  house.  The 
Bishop  did  not  want  costly  churches  at  all  for 
their  own  sake,  but  for  the  sake  of  the  spirit 
that  would  build  them.  It  was  not  the  church 
building  that  was  wanted,  but  the  sacrifice;  not 
the  emotion  of  admiration,  but  the  act  of  adora- 
tion; not  the  gift,  but  the  giving.  There  was 
nothing  at  that  time  in  any  of  the  parish  churches 
of  Tennessee  to  speak  to  the  heart,  the  imagina- 


174  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   IN 

tion  or  the  affections.  There  was  no  home 
feeling — nothing  to  indicate  a  holy  and  reverent 
use.  And  all  this  was  only  an  outward  and 
visible  sign  of  a  utilitarian  spirit  in  the  worshipper 
— of  a  spirit  that  might  be  earnest,  severe,  duti- 
ful, but  that  was  not  rich,  full,  susceptible  of 
impressions,  solemn,  grand,  attractive.* 

And  the  Bishop  manifested  his  deep  earnest- 
ness upon  this  subject  by  his  personal  interest  in 
the  plan  and  design  of  each  church  edifice  erected 
in  the  diocese  during  his  Episcopate,  and  by  the 
gifts  he  made  or  secured  for  the  encouragement 
of  proper  church  architecture.  Not  a  few  churches 
of  the  diocese  to-day  point  with  pride  to  windows 
given  by  Bishop  Quintard.  And  the  giving  of 
these  was  usually  conditioned  upon  the  selection 
of  a  design  for  the  church  building  which  would 
meet  his  views  as  to  what  the  house  of  God 
should  be. 

Whether  or  not  entirely  due  to  the  efforts  of 
Bishop  Quintard,  the  churches  built  during  his 
Episcopate  include  some  notable  specimens  of 
ecclesiastical  architecture.  The  Committee  on 
the  State  of  the  Church,  reporting  to  the  Con- 
vention of  1874,  noted  a  "wonderful  improve- 
ment in  all  parts  of  the  diocese  in  the  matter  of 


Dioc.  Journ.,  1867,  pp.  43-46. 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  1 75 

church  architecture."  "A  few  years  ago,"  the 
report  reads,  "there  was  scarcely  a  church  in 
good  ecclesiological  style  in  our  diocese;  now 
there  are  many  that  would  challenge  admiration 
in  any  part  of  the  land.  .  .  .  We  gladly 
recognize  here  again  the  persistent  efforts  of  our 
Diocesan  to  elevate  the  taste  of  our  people  upon 
this  not  unimportant  subject." 

As  the  direct  result  of  the  Bishop's  influence 
in  this  matter,  St.  Luke's  Church,  Cleveland; 
the  Church  of  the  Messiah,  Pulaski,  and  Grace 
Church,  Chattanooga,  were  built  as  memorials. 
The  first  was  built  by  Colonel  John  H.  Craigmiles 
to  the  memory  of  his  little  daughter  Nina,  and 
was  opened  for  public  services  in  December,  1 873. 
The  Bishop  described  it  as  one  of  the  most  per- 
fect parish  churches  in  the  country.  "  The  lamp 
of  Truth  and  the  lamp  of  Sacrifice  burn  with 
steady  light  from  foundation-stone  to  turret. 
Beautiful  in  outline,  its  interior  finish  of  native 
wood  (oak  and  walnut)  is  chaste  and  rich." 

The  Church  of  the  Messiah,  Pulaski,  was  com- 
pleted and  furnished  throughout  at  a  cost  of 
more  than  six  thousand  dollars,  as  a  memorial  to 
the  two  daughters  of  ex-Governor  John  C.  Brown. 
It  was  consecrated  in  December,  1887.  Grace 
Church,  Chattanooga,  was  erected  by  Mr.  Theo- 
dore Richmond  in  memory  of  his  daughter  Grace. 
It  was  consecrated  in  May,  i< 


176  HISTORY   OF   THE  CHURCH    IN 

Magnificent  and  costly  edifices  of  stone  have 
been  erected  for  Trinity  Church,  Clarksville;  St. 
John's  Church,  Knoxville;  St.  Paul's  Church, 
Chattanooga;  Christ  Church,  Nashville,  and  St. 
Barnabas'  Church,  Tullahoma.  The  new  stone 
church  for  Trinity  Parish,  Clarksville,  was  con- 
secrated by  Bishop  Quintard,  assisted  by  the 
Bishop  of  Alabama,  on  the  ist  of  December, 
1 88 1 .  St.  Paul's  Church,  Chattanooga,  was  com- 
pleted in  1888.  St.  John's  Church,  Knoxville, 
was  built  of  Georgia  marble,  and  is  pronounced 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  churches  in  any  of  our 
dioceses.  Christ  Church,  Nashville,  was  opened 
for  services  on  the  i6th  of  December,  1894.  It 
increased  the  value  of  the  property  belonging  to 
that  parish  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
dollars.  St.  Barnabas'  Church,  Tullahoma,  was 
erected  in  1898  at  a  cost  of  seven  thousand  dol- 
lars, and  increased  the  value  of  the  Church  prop- 
erty there  to  about  seventeen  thousand  dollars. 

Doubtless  the  climax  of  this  era  of  ecclesiastical 
architecture  will  be  reached  when  the  Cathedral 
of  St.  Mary's,  Memphis,  will  be  completed.  The 
corner-stone  was  laid  in  May,  1898. 


THE    DIOCESE  OF  TENNESSEE.  I77 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  NEGRO. 

The  condition  of  the  negro  after  the  war  was 
such  as  to  impose  serious  problems  upon  the 
Church  in  the  Southern  dioceses.  It  was  Bishop 
Quintard  who,  together  with  Bishop  Dudley  of 
Kentucky,  took  the  earliest  steps  towards  the 
solution  of  these  problems,  and  inaugurated  the 
system  by  which  the  Church  might  resume,  under 
a  new  order  of  things,  the  spiritual  care  of  the 
negro  throughout  the  South.  It  is  this  that 
brings  this  subject  especially  within  the  scope  of 
a  Diocesan  History  of  Tennessee. 

There  will  scarcely  be  found  anyone  who  will 
now  defend  the  institution  of  slavery,  either  as 
a  moral  or  as  an  economic  principle.  Yet  it  is 
impossible  to  deny  that  the  negroes  of  the  South 
were  happier  and  better  cared  for,  physically  and 
morally,  under  the  system  of  slavery  existing  in 
the  South,  than  they  have  been  at  any  time  since 
they  obtained  their  freedom  and  were  suddenly, 
without  any  training,  endowed  with  the  rights  of 
citizenship.  The  fact  has  already  been  adverted 
to  in  the  course  of  this  history,  that  the  Peniten- 
tiary in  Nashville,  in  the  slave  days,  held  none  but 


178  HISTORY    OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

white  convicts.  The  slave  owners  were  to  an 
extent  responsible  for  the  conduct  of  their  slaves, 
and  the  form  of  discipline  pursued  was  suffi- 
cient to  prevent  the  occurrence  of  the  greater 
crimes. 

No  picture  of  Southern  life  in  the  ante  bellum 
days  is  complete  that  does  not  show  something 
of  the  spiritual  care  bestowed  upon  the  slaves  by 
their  religious  masters.  Such  masters  as  were 
Churchmen  had  their  slaves  baptized,  instructed 
in  the  things  pertaining  to  their  spiritual  welfare 
to  the  extent  of  their  capacity  for  receiving 
instruction,  confirmed  and  admitted  to  the  Holy 
Communion.  The  records  of  their  baptisms  and 
confirmations  were  carefully  kept.  The  slaves 
attended  the  same  services  of  the  church  as  their 
masters.  St.  John's  Church,  Ashwood,  and 
Ravenscroft  Chapel,  Tipton  County,  were  two 
examples  of  plantation  churches,  and  were  built 
with  the  religious  needs  of  the  negro  slaves  in 
view.  It  was  no  unusual  sight  at  a  Sunday 
morning  service  in  these  churches,  after  all  the 
white  communicants  had  received,  to  see  the 
altar  rail  thronged  with  negroes,  partaking  with 
reverence  of  the  soul-nourishing  food  of  the  Body 
and  Blood  of  Christ. 

We  may  not  take  time  to  dwell  on  the  signifi- 
cance of  some  incidents  in  the  history  of  the 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  I79 

State  of  Tennessee  to  which  full  justice  seems 
never  to  have  been  done.  Although  in  the 
cession  by  North  Carolina  of  her  western  terri- 
tory in  1788,  it  was  stipulated  in  the  act  of  cession 
"that  no  regulation  made  or  to  be  made  by 
Congress  should  tend  to  the  emancipation  of  the 
slaves,"  yet  to  the  Constitutional  Convention 
of  1796  petitions  were  presented  with  nearly  two 
thousand  signers  from  all  the  settlements,  asking 
that  a  provision  be  embodied  in  the  constitution  of 
the  new  State  prohibiting  slavery  after  1864.  In 
1801  the  Legislature  passed  "an  act  empowering 
the  County  Courts  to  emancipate  slaves."  The 
preamble  offers  as  an  apology  for  such  an  act 
the  large  number  of  petitions  presented  to  the 
Legislature  for  the  emancipation  of  slaves.  In 
the  early  "twenties"  people  were  thinking  and 
acting  in  Tennessee  on  the  subject  of  universal 
emancipation,  and  there  were  three  periodicals 
published  within  the  borders  of  the  State  devoted 
to  that  cause.  One  of  them.  The  Emancipator, 
is  claimed  as  the  first  paper  in  the  United  States 
wholly  in  the  interests  of  emancipation.*  It  is 
not  improbable  that  could  the  war  have  been 
averted,  or  even  postponed  for  a  few  years,  the 


*  Allison.     "Dropped   Stitches   in   the   History   of  Ten- 
nessee." 


l8o  HISTORY  OF  THE   CHURCH   IN 

borders  of  the  slave  States  would  have  receded 
below  the  southern  boundary  of  Tennessee. 

But  the  Church  in  the  Diocese  of  Tennessee, 
after  the  war,  had  to  deal,  not  with  what  might 
have  been,  but  with  what  actually  was.  The 
edict  of  emancipation  when  issued  in  war  time 
was  virtually  non-effective  in  the  South  until 
after  the  war  had  ended.  Then  it  was  suddenly 
realized  by  both  the  masters  and  the  slaves  (now 
"  freedmen  " )  that  the  social  conditions  previously 
existing  had  been  broken  up,  and  no  preparation 
had  been  made  to  provide  a  substitute  that  would 
be  at  all  satisfactory  to  meet  the  demands  of  the 
new  order  of  things.  The  result  of  the  change 
upon  the  temper  of  the  freedmen  was  aggravated 
by  the  interference  of  those  who  had  none  other 
than  a  self-interest  in  the  matter;  and  finally,  by 
the  most  stupendous  blunder  in  statesmanship 
ever  perpetrated  in  the  history  of  any  nation,  by 
which  the  duties  of  citizenship  were  suddenly 
thrust  upon  those  who  had  never  been  trained 
either  to  exercise  its  duties  or  to  appreciate  its 
privileges.  The  former  masters,  dazed  by  the 
sudden  turn  matters  had  taken,  and  seeing  readily 
enough  the  political  motive  underlying  it  all, 
were  forced  at  once  into  a  position  of  self-protec- 
tion. If  the  trend  of  events  were  to  mean 
"social  equality,"  they  would  have  none  of  it. 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  l8l 

If  it  meant  the  political  domination  of  the  inferior 
race,  they  would  take  steps  to  prevent  it. 

In  1866  the  "Colored  Baptists "  began  to  form 
separate  organizations  in  the  South  (to  the  im- 
mense relief  of  the  white  Baptists),  and  there  were 
in  Tennessee  in  1890  over  fifty-two  thousand 
negroes  claiming  allegiance  to  one  branch  or 
another  of  the  religious  denomination  thus 
vaguely  defined.  In  1869  "The  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church,  Colored,"  was  organized 
at  Murfreesboro,  Tenn.,  "under  the  direction  of 
the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church,"  and  was 
constituted  of  colored  ministers  and  members 
who  had  been  previously  connected  with  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterians.* 

In  i860  about  two  hundred  and  seven  thousand 
of  the  slave  population  of  the  Southern  States 
were  recognized  as  members  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South.  In  1866  it  was  found 
that  these  had  dwindled  down  to  less  than 
seventy-nine  thousand  through  desertions  to  the 
African  Methodists,  the  African  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Zion,  and  other  Methodist  bodies  which 
were  representatives  of  the  Northern  States.  To 
prevent  a  further  diminution,  the  General  Con- 
ference of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 


Carroll.     "  Religious  Forces,  etc." 


l82  HISTORY    OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

in  1866,  authorized  the  organization  of  separate 
congregations  and  separate  conferences;  and  in 
1870,  by  the  action  of  the  General  Conference  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  the 
"colored"  conferences  were  organized  into  a 
"separate  and  independent  Church."  It  took 
the  name  of  the  "  Colored  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,"  and  comprised  the  colored  members 
and  ministers  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South.  The  result  of  this  movement  was  seen 
by  the  increase  during  twenty  years  to  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-nine  thousand  members  in  the 
South.  In  the  order  of  membership  Tennessee 
stands  third  among  the  Southern  States.  It  had 
nearly  nineteen  thousand  members  in  1890. 

Meanwhile  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  had  secured  over  twenty-three  thousand 
members  in  Tennessee  in  1890,  and  the  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  over  twelve 
thousand  members.  The  total  of  over  one  hun- 
dred and  eleven  thousand  members  of  all  denom- 
inations of  negroes  must  include  very  nearly  all 
the  adult  negro  population  of  the  State  in  1890,  as 
it  is  a  well-known  fact  that  a  negro  who  does 
not  claim  membership  in  some  religious  denom- 
ination is  exceedingly  rare. 

It  was  thus  that  the  three  dominant  religious 
bodies  of  the  State  of  Tennessee,  representing 


THE    DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  1 83 

the  forms  of  religion  professedly  most  popular 
with  the  negro,  relieved  themselves  (two  of 
them,  at  least,  with  a  shrewdness  which  we 
must  admire)  of  all  responsibility  for  the  religious 
care  of  the  negro.  Organized  into  separate  and 
independent  societies,  which  have  been  yearly 
increasing  in  number  by  division  as  well  as  by 
addition,  the  negroes  could  fix  their  own  standards 
of  faith,  of  worship,  of  morals,  and  of  Christian 
requirements  or  discipline.  If  they  chose  to  re- 
adopt  their  former  African  fetichism,  ophiolatry 
or  voudooism  as  a  part  of  their  religious  system, 
there  was  no  one  to  say  them  nay.  There  was 
not  even  the  check  imposed  upon  their  religious 
excesses  by  public  opinion,  which  is  so  influen- 
tial in  the  case  of  the  religious  denominations  of 
the  whites.  There  is  a  parable  in  all  this  which 
we  shall  not  pause  to  pursue. 

The  Church,  however,  is  not  permitted  to 
adopt  such  easy  methods  of  solving  difficult 
problems.  She  inherits  her  principles,  does  not 
make  them,  and  cannot  change  them  to  suit  her 
temporary  convenience,  or  to  shirk  a  God-given 
responsibility.  The  number  of  her  children 
among  the  unfortunate  race  is  small,  yet  it  is  her 
duty,  as  a  Catholic  Church,  to  embrace  them  with- 
in her  fold  and  to  care  for  them  spiritually.  Un- 
fortunately she  was  unable  to  take  up  the  white 


184  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

man's  burden  at  once  when  these  problems  first 
presented  themselves ;  she  was  financially  crippled 
at  the  time.  But  it  is  to  the  honor  of  the  Church 
in  the  Diocese  of  Tennessee  that  she  never 
shirked  her  duty  or  sought  to  shift  her  respon- 
sibility; and  "she  hath  done  what  she  could." 

It  was  in  the  face  of  considerable  popular 
opposition  that  Bishop  Quintard  had  to  assert 
the  catholic  position  of  the  Church  upon  this 
question.  On  Palm  Sunday,  1869,  at  Calvary 
Church,  Memphis,  Bishop  Quintard  administered 
the  rite  of  confirmation  to  seven  persons,  one 
of  whom  was  a  negro.  Before  going  to  the 
church  he  was  informed  by  the  rector  that  there 
was  a  colored  candidate  for  confirmation,  and 
was  asked  what  was  to  be  done.  His  reply  was, 
"  Let  him  be  confirmed  according  to  the  usage 
of  the  Church,"  which  had  been  to  administer 
confirmation  to  whites  and  blacks  at  the  same 
time,  kneeling  at  the  same  chancel  rail.  It  was 
the  practice  of  Bishops  Otey,  Elliott,  Cobbs  and 
Polk — of  all  other  Bishops  in  the  Southern  dio- 
ceses— and  Bishop  Quintard  made  it  his  own 
practice  immediately  upon  being  called  to  the 
Episcopate.  No  one  had  dreamed  in  the  past 
that  the  simple  performance  of  an  ecclesiastical 
act  altered  in  any  way  the  social  relation  of  the 
two  races. 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  1 85 

The  colored  candidate  did  not,  however,  ap- 
pear at  the  chancel  rail  with  the  others,  but 
waited  until  the  confirmation  office  was  com- 
pleted and  the  final  blessing  bestowed.  When 
the  Bishop  found  him  then  kneeling  there,  he 
turned  to  the  congregation,  and,  in  explanation 
and  apology  for  going  over  the  office  a  second 
time,  he  said:  "This  person  should  have  come 
forward  with  the  other  candidates,  for,  in  the 
bestowal  of  her  spiritual  blessings, 

'  Our  mother,  the  Church,  hath  never  a  child 
To  honor  before  the  rest.'  " 

The  Bishop's  action  "was  made  the  occasion 
of  a  vast  amount  of  unmerited  abuse  .  .  . 
by  the  secular  press  of  the  city  of  Memphis,"  and 
the  Bishop  thought  it  well  to  advert  to  the  inci- 
dent in  his  address  to  the  Diocesan  Convention 
that  year  in  the  following  words: 

"  While  I  do  not  at  all  believe  in  the  propriety 
of  abrogating  the  distinctions  which  have  always 
been  maintained,  I  should  have  been  altogether 
unworthy  of  my  high  office  had  I  failed  on  such 
an  occasion  to  vindicate  the  catholicity  of  the 
Church.  Surely  at  this  day  our  people  have 
not  to  learn  that  Christ's  kingdom  is  not  of  this 
world. 


l86  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH    IN 

They  know  full  well  that 

'  Our  mother,  the  Church,  hath  never  a  child 

To  honor  before  the  rest, 
But  she  singeth  the  same  for  mighty  kings 

And  the  veriest  babe  on  her  breast; 
And  the  Bishop  goes  down  to  his  narrow  bed 

As  a  ploughman's  child  is  laid. 
And  alike  she  blesseth  the  dark-browed  serf 

And  the  chief  in  his  robe  arrayed.'  "  * 

To  active  work  among  "the  freedmen"  the 
Bishop  addressed  himself  at  once  upon  his  con- 
secration to  the  Episcopate.  And  a  work  of  a 
very  practical  nature  was  begun  by  Mrs.  Martha 
A.  Canfield,  who  founded  what  was  known  as 
"  Canfield  Orphan  Asylum  "  in  Memphis.  Her 
husband,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Canfield,  of  the  72d 
Ohio  Volunteers,  had  fallen  in  the  Battle  of 
Shiloh.  The  Bishop  said  of  her,  after  her  death 
in  1889:  "The  Church  has  lost  a  daughter  of 
deep  and  earnest  character  and  of  great  useful- 
ness in  her  day  and  generation.  .  .  .  Her 
services  were  indeed  the  noblest  that  woman 
could  render  her  country  in  a  time  of  war,  and 
.  .  .  she  confronted  its  most  horrid  aspects 
with  mighty  love  and  earnestness,  in  ministering 
to  the  wounded,  the  sick  and  the  dying."  f 


■*Journ.  Conv.,  1869,  p.  39. 
t  Journ.  Conv.,  1890,  p.  45. 


THE    DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  1 87 

The  organization  of  separate  congregations  of 
negroes  began  as  speedily  as  possible,  and  with 
it  the  preparation  of  colored  ministers  for  their 
supervision,  this  being  fully  in  accord  with  the 
Catholic  principles  of  the  Church  with  regard  to 
the  negro.  Immanuel  Church,  Memphis,  was 
able  to  report  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven 
communicants  in  1898.  There  were  also  the 
following  missions  included  in  this  department 
of  the  Church's  work:  St.  Philip's,  Bolivar;  St. 
Stephen's,  Burlison;  Holy  Comforter,  Columbia; 
St.  Cyprian's  Gallatin;  St.  Thomas',  Jackson; 
St.  Paul's,  Mason;  St.  Augustine's  and  St.  Paul's, 
Nashville;  and  St.  Paul's-on-the-Mountain,  Se- 
wanee,  having  in  all  in  1898  two  hundred  com- 
municants. 

This  department  of  Church  work  was  com- 
mitted to  various  Archdeacons  for  Colored  work 
in  succession  and  with  varying  success  until  1895 
when  the  Rev.  Robert  C.  Caswall  was  appointed 
thereto.  Under  his  efficient  management  the 
work  has  made  considerable  advancement  and 
gives  promise  of  good  results. 

The  most  hopeful  phase  of  this  department  of 
diocesan  work  is  that  undertaken  at  Hoffman 
Hall,  Nashville.  This  work  was  begun  in  1 890  by 
Bishop  Quintard,  who  saw  in  the  opening  of 
Fisk  University,  Nashville,  the  Church's  oppor- 


1 88  HISTORY    OF   THE    CHURCH    IN 

tunity  for  efficient  work  on  behalf  of  the  negro. 
He  at  once  took  steps  for  the  establishment  of  a 
Church  Home  and  training  school  for  such 
colored  men  as  showed  special  promise  for  the 
work  of  the  ministry.  Through  the  generosity 
of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  F.  Hoffman,  of  New 
York,  a  valuable  piece  of  property  was  secured, 
and  two  buildings  were  erected,  Hoffman  Hall 
and  the  Warden's  Cottage.  By  arrangement 
with  the  President  of  Fisk  University,  the  Hoff- 
man Hall  students  are  to  be  entered  regularly  in 
the  University  as  candidates  for  its  degrees.  In 
the  Hall  they  are  trained  in  the  Church's  doctrine, 
discipline  and  worship,  keeping  the  strictest  rule, 
attending  daily  services  in  Hannington  Chapel, 
and  cultivating  habits  of  self-help,  neatness  and 
order. 

The  work  at  Hoffman  Hall  was  formally  in- 
augurated under  the  most  favorable  auspices  in 
June,  1891,  and  has  been  carried  on  with  vary- 
ing success,  but  always  advancing  towards  its 
ideal.  It  has  had  twenty  pupils  in  the  present 
school  year.  These  take  good  rank  at  Fisk 
University  and  are  admitted  to  be  exerting  a 
good  influence  among  the  large  number  of 
students  there  and  are  thus  practically  illustrat- 
ing what  the  Church  can  do  for  the  negro. 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  1 89 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

A   SUMMING   UP   OF   RESULTS. 

The  committee  on  the  State  of  the  Church  ap- 
pointed at  the  Diocesan  Convention  held  in  Boli- 
var in  1866 — the  first  convention  held  after  the 
consecration  of  Dr.  Quintard  to  the  Episcopate — 
reported  fourteen  hundred  and  ninety-eight 
communicants  in  Tennessee,  six  churches  not 
reporting  to  the  convention.  In  1867  there  were 
five  hundred  more  communicants  in  the  diocese, 
three  parishes  still  neglecting  to  send  in  reports. 
The  Bishop  had  confirmed  four  hundred  and 
seventy  persons  in  his  diocese  during  the  con- 
ventional year  ending  in  May,  1867.  And  these 
figures  were  an  earnest  of  the  Church's  growth 
during  the  years  of  Bishop  Quintard's  Episcopate, 
and  set  a  standard  of  accomplishment  which  it 
was  disappointing  not  to  reach  in  any  one  year. 
In  point  of  fact  the  Bishop  succeeded  in  making 
the  annual  average  of  confirmations  for  the  first 
twenty  years  of  his  Episcopate  three  hundred 
and  six.  During  the  latter  twelve  years  of  his 
Episcopate  he  maintained  an  annual  average  of 
four  hundred  confirmations.  Into  the  circum- 
stances which  prevented  a    corresponding    in- 


190  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   IN 

crease  in  the  number  of  communicants   in  the 
diocese  we  shall  inquire  later  on. 

At  the  fifty-third  annual  convention  of  the 
diocese,  held  in  Sewanee,  the  seat  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  the  South,  in  May,  1885,  the  oppor- 
tunity was  presented  to  sum  up  the  results  of 
the  work  done  by  the  Church  in  the  Diocese  of 
Tennessee.  It  was  the  completion  of  twenty 
years  of  the  Episcopate  of  Bishop  Quintard. 
He  had  designed  such  a  review,  and  to  that  end 
he  had  directed  a  circular  letter  to  his  clergy,  ask- 
ing them  to  answer  a  set  of  questions  calculated 
to  develop  definite  information  regarding  the 
status  of  their  various  cures.  As  the  Bishop 
himself  summed  up  the  needs  of  the  Church  in 
the  diocese,  the  outlook  was  depressing.  He 
pointed  out  that  in  most  of  the  counties  of  the 
State  the  voice  of  the  Church  was  never  heard. 
There  were  large  and  important  towns,  such  as 
Murfreesboro,*  Lebanon,  Paris  and  others  equally 
important,  which  no  missionary  of  this  Church 
ever  visited.  The  whole  plant  of  this  Church  in 
East  Tennessee  consisted  of  two  parishes  in 
Knoxville,  one  at  Cleveland  and  one  at  Chatta- 
nooga, with  Church  buildings  in  Greeneville, 
Loudon  and  Athens.     In  Middle  Tennessee  there 


■  So  spelled  after  the  war. 


THE    DIOCESE    OF    TENNESSEE.  I9I 

was  a  whole  range  of  counties  in  which  the 
Church  had  yet  to  be  planted.  In  nineteen  con- 
tiguous counties  extending  the  entire  width  of 
the  State,  embracing  an  area  of  over  ninety-three 
hundred  square  miles  (greater  in  extent  than 
many  of  the  dioceses),  containing  a  population 
of  over  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand,  being 
one-sixth  of  the  population  of  the  whole  State, 
and  greater  than  that  of  any  one  of  eleven  of  the 
fourteen  Missionary  Jurisdictions  then  existent, 
there  was  not  a  Church  building,  not  a  clergy- 
man nor  a  single  agency  of  the  Church  at  work.* 

The  clergy  list  that  year  numbered  forty-seven, 
the  communicants  over  forty-one  hundred  and 
fifty  (an  increase  of  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
upon  the  number  reported  the  previous  year), 
and  the  number  confirmed  in  the  conventional 
year  then  ending  was  three  hundred  and  eighty- 
nine.  The  diocese  then  consisted  of  thirty-two 
parishes  and  several  missions.  Yet  the  Church 
had  barely  held  the  territory  preempted  by  her 
forty  years  before, 

Thetotalnumberof  baptisms  during  the  twenty 
years  that  had  elapsed  since  the  war  had  been  in 
excess  of  ten  thousand.  The  total  number  of 
confirmations  six   thousand   one   hundred    and 


■  Journ.  Conv.,  1885,  p.  24. 


192  HISTORY    OF  THE   CHURCH    IN 

eighty-seven.  Forty  deacons  and  twenty-four 
priests  had  been  ordained  by  Bishop  Quintard 
during  the  years  then  under  review  and  $984,420 
had  been  raised  within  the  diocese  for  Church 
purposes.  The  Church  property  had  gained  in 
value  to  the  amount  of  $309,000  since  1865,  esti- 
mated as  an  increase  of  a  little  more  than  three 
hundred  per  cent.  The  property  consisted  of 
thirty-two  Church  buildings,  eight  chapels  and 
twelve  rectories,  few  parishes  owning  landed 
estates  apart  from  that  upon  which  the  parish 
buildings  were  erected.  Nine  parishes  reported 
debts  aggregating  about  $5,400. 

In  the  matter  of  the  payment  of  the  rectors' 
salaries,  in  answer  to  the  Bishop's  interrogatories, 
twenty-four  churches  reported  business-like  and 
religious  promptness  in  so  doing;  seven  frankly 
and  penitently  admitted  that  they  had  left  un- 
done, or  but  partially  and  tardily  done,  those 
things  which  they  ought  to  have  done;  and 
eight  ignored  the  question,  presumably  taking 
advantage  of  the  well-known  legal  maxim, 
Accusare  nemo  se  debet. 

In  regard  to  the  spiritual  condition  of  the  par- 
ishes and  missions  it  was,  as  it  ever  must  be, 
difficult  to  collect  data  upon  which  to  found  cate- 
gorical statements.  Spiritual  conditions  refused 
to  arrange  themselves  in  the  form  of  tabulated 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  1 93 

Statistics.  "  The  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth 
and  thou  hearest  the  sound  thereof  but  canst  not 
tell  whence  it  cometh  and  whither  it  goeth." 
Still  from  the  answers  submitted  by  the  clergy 
to  the  questions  of  the  Bishop's  circular,  the 
committee  appointed  to  consider  these  subjects 
was  able  to  deduce  some  significant  facts. 
Thirty-one  parishes  and  missions  reported  im- 
provement in  spiritual  conditions  as  manifested 
by  increased  attendance  upon  the  services  of  the 
Church  and  by  Godliness  of  life.  But  while 
generally  united  in  the  welfare  of  the  parishes, 
by  far  the  greater  number  were  more  or  less  in- 
different to  the  interests  of  the  Church  at  large. 
There  was  an  evident  willingness  to  learn,  but 
little  effort  made  to  acquire  knowledge  through 
the  medium  of  Church  literature.  There  were 
but  seven  parish  libraries,  and  but  two  parish 
schools  in  the  diocese. 

The  Church  people  of  Tennessee  were  re- 
ported as  showing  an  appreciation  of  the  bene- 
fits and  privileges  of  the  Church  in  the  matter  of 
baptism  and  confirmation,  but  there  was  great 
room  for  improvement  in  the  matter  of  sending 
for  the  clergyman  and  desiring  the  prayers  of 
the  Church  in  cases  of  sickness,  and  there  was 
"a  painful  unanimity"  in  the  replies  to  the 
questions  so  far  as  touched  the  point  of  thank- 
fulness shown  for  mercies  received. 


194  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

As  a  general  rule  services  were  held  in  the 
parishes  on  all  Sundays  and  Holy  Days;  in 
several  instances  they  were  held  once  or  twice 
on  week  days.  In  few  cases  were  daily  morn- 
ing and  evening  prayer  said.  In  eleven  cases  the 
Ember  seasons  were  observed.  In  nine  cases 
the  Holy  Communion  was  celebrated  on  all  Sun- 
days and  Holy  Days.  In  sixteen,  that  curious 
superstitious  reverence  was  maintained  for  "the 
First  Sunday  of  every  month,"  and  that  was  set 
apart  from  all  other  Sundays  by  a  celebration  of 
the  Holy  Communion.  Though  in  seven  of 
these  celebrations  were  had  on  the  greater  fes- 
tivals also,  even  when  they  failed  to  occur  upon 
"  the  First  Sunday  of  the  month."  In  two 
parishes  there  were  daily  celebrations. 

There  had  been  some  parochial  development 
in  the  period  under  review.  St.  Lazarus'  Church 
was  established  in  Memphis  by  the  Rev.  James 
W.  Rogers  directly  after  the  war.  After  some 
objections  to  the  curious  name  selected  for  it  had 
been  overruled,  the  parish  was  admitted  to 
union  with  the  diocese  in  1867.  The  congrega- 
tion included  at  one  time  some  most  distin- 
guished citizens  and  numbered  over  one  hun- 
dred communicants.  But  the  parish  did  not 
long  survive  the  epidemic  of  1878  and  the  con- 
gregation was  merged  into  that  of  Grace  Church. 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  I95 

Mission  work  of  the  ante  bellum  period  devel- 
oped St.  Matthew's  Church,  Covington,  admitted 
to  union  with  the  diocese  in  1866;  the  Memorial 
Church  of  the  Redeemer,  Shelbyville,  admitted 
in  1867  and  Trinity  Church,  Mason,  admitted  in 
1 87 1.  Work  subsequent  to  the  war  resulted  in 
the  Church  of  the  Messiah,  Pulaski,  and  the 
Church  of  the  Epiphany,  Knoxville,  admitted  as 
parishes  in  1869;  St.  Luke's  Church,  Cleveland, 
(developed  from  a  mission  called  St.  Alban's), 
and  St.  Paul's-on-the-Mountain  (afterwards 
changed  to  Otey  Memorial),  Sewanee,  admitted 
in  1 871;  the  Church  of  the  Good  Shepherd, 
Memphis,  admitted  in  1872;  and  St.  Barnabas 
Church,  Tullahoma,  admitted  in  1875.  Besides, 
which  there  were  the  flourishing  missions  of  St. 
Mary  Magdalene,  Fayetteville;  St.  James,  Cum- 
berland Furnace;  St.  John,  Buntyn,  and  Christ 
Church,  Rugby.* 

The  end  of  another  decade  showed  a  continu- 
ance of  the  growth  manifested  during  the  former 
two  decades.  The  number  of  parishes  was  in- 
creased by  the  organization  and  admission  of  St. 


*The  last  named  was  once  organized  as  a  parish  and  ad- 
mitted to  union  with  the  diocese,  but  upon  the  failure  of 
Rugby  Colony,  an  experiment  originating  with  the  late  Thomas 
Hughes,  M.  P.,  the  famous  author  of  "  Tom  Brown  at  Oxford," 
etc.,  its  parochial  organization  was  suspended  and  it  returned 
to  its  former  mission  status. 


196  HISTORY   OF  THE  CHURCH   IN 

Peter's  Church,  Nashville,  1886;  Christ  Church, 
South  Pittsburg,  1887;  St.  Mary  Magdalene's, 
Fayetteville,  and  Grace  Church,  Rossview,  1890; 
Grace  Memorial  Church,  Chattanooga,  and 
Christ  Church,  Johnson  City,  1892.  While 
flourishing  missions  have  been  established  at 
Tracy  City,*  Murfreesboro,  Arlington,  Collier- 
ville,  Gallatin,  Spring  Hill,  Harriman,  Lewisburg, 
Morristown.  Elizabethton  and  elsewhere. 

During  this  period  the  rite  of  confirmation 
was  administered  to  more  than  four  thousand 
persons.  Yet  there  were  the  same  conditions 
existing  in  the  diocese  as  heretofore  to  prevent 
an  increase  in  the  number  of  communicants  re- 
ported in  1898  beyond  fifty-seven  hundred  and 
seventy-four.  To  these  conditions  more  partic- 
ular reference  will  be  made  hereafter. 

The  educational  character  of  the  diocese, 
firmly  established  by  Bishop  Otey,  was  steadily 
maintained  by  Bishop  Quintard.  Not  only  were 
the  University  of  the  South  at  Sewanee,  and  the 
Female  Institute  at  Columbia — both  within  the 
territorial  limits  of  the  diocese  and  having  a 
churchly  aim — rapidly  developed,  but  schools 
which,  though  not  under  diocesan  control,  were 


*  The  outcome  of  a  service  held  by  Bishop  Quintard,  Bishop 
Gregg  of  Texas,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Knight,  in  an  "open  saw 
mill,"  in  Tracy  City,  on  the  twelfth  Sunday  after  Trinity,  1868. 


THE    DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  1 97 

distinctly  designed  to  aid  the  work  of  the 
Church  in  Tennessee,  were  established.  St. 
Mary's  School,  Memphis,  under  the  charge  of 
the  Sisters  of  St.  Mary;  Fairmount  School,  Mon- 
teagle,  and  Beechcroft  School,  Spring  Hill,  are  of 
this  character.  St.  Katharine's  Hall  (formerly 
St.  James'  Hall),  Bolivar,  on  the  other  hand  is  a 
distinctly  diocesan  school.  All  these  are  for  the 
education  of  girls.  Cleveland  had  its  Parish 
School  for  girls,  founded  by  Colonel  J.  H.  Craig- 
miles  in  1884.  And  Bedford  University,  the 
Otey  School  for  boys,  at  Mt.  Pleasant;  a  Parish 
School  for  girls  and  boys  at  Fayetteville;  a 
school  at  Cumberland  Furnace,  and  Arnold 
School  at  Rugby,  were  reckoned  for  a  while 
among  diocesan  institutions. 


198  HISTORY    OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

CHAPTER   XVII. 

THE  MEN  OF  THE  LATER  DAYS. 

The  roster  of  the  clergy  serving  in  the  Diocese 
of  Tennessee  during  the  Episcopate  of  Bishop 
Quintard  comprises  more  than  two  hundred  and 
thirty  names.  Many  of  these  names  appear  but 
a  short  time  upon  the  clergy  list  of  Tennessee. 
But  of  the  men  who  by  long  and  faithful  service 
of  the  Church  in  this  diocese,  have  left  the  im- 
press of  their  lives  upon  the  work  of  the  Church 
here,  the  list  is  no  inconsiderable  one.  Some  of 
these  are  selected  for  especial  mention  as  illus- 
trating the  three  decades  of  diocesan  history 
embraced  in  the  Episcopate  of  the  second  Bishop 
of  Tennessee. 

Of  those  who  were  present  at  the  special  con- 
vention held  in  1865,  but  six  are  still  living,  and 
of  these  six,  but  one  is  at  present  at  work  in  the 
Diocese  of  Tennessee.  The  Rev.  Samuel  Ring- 
gold, D.D.,  served  the  Church  in  Tennessee  as 
rector  of  Trinity  Church,  Clarksville,  for  ten 
years  from  December,  1864.  He  was  then  ab- 
sent from  the  diocese  for  many  years.  He  re- 
turned in  1887  and  became  rector  of  St.  John's 
Church,  Knoxville,  where  his  rectorate  has  been 


THE   DIOCESE  OF   TENNESSEE.  199 

marked  by  the  erection  of  a  beautiful  and  costly 
church  edifice,  the  purchase  of  a  rectory,  and  the 
establishment  of  an  orphanage.  He  was  some 
time  Dean  of  the  Convocation  of  Knoxville. 

Of  the  five  survivors  of  that  memorable  con- 
vention who  no  longer  canonically  reside  in  the 
diocese,  the  Rev.  William  Crane  Gray,  D.D., 
served  the  Church  in  Tennessee  most  faithfully 
as  a  zealous  missionary,  as  the  rector  succes- 
sively of  St.  James'  Church,  Bolivar,  and  the 
Church  of  the  Advent,  Nashville,  and  perform- 
ing some  special  services  of  a  delicate  nature  for 
the  diocese.  He  represented  the  diocese  in  the 
General  Convention,  and  served  on  the  Standing 
Committee  as  well  as  on  several  special  com- 
mittees, until  1892,  when  he  was  consecrated 
first  Bishop  of  Southern  Florida. 

The  Rev.  Charles  Francis  Collins  was  ordained 
both  to  the  diaconate  and  to  the  priesthood  by 
Bishop  Otey.  He  served  the  Church  in  this 
diocese  with  true  missionary  zeal  for  more  than 
thirty-five  years,  in  St.  Mark's  Church,  Williams- 
port;  St.  John's  Church,  Ashwood,  and  in  all 
the  smaller  places  of  West  Tennessee.  Since 
1890  he  has  been  resident  in  the  Diocese  of 
Missouri. 

The  Rev.  George  Henry  Hunt,  the  Rev. 
George   Carroll   Harris,    S.T.D.,    and   the   Rev. 


200  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

James  Junius  Vaulx,  are  natives  of  Tennessee. 
The  first  named  was  made  deacon  by  Bishop 
Otey  in  i860  and  was  missionary  at  Pulaski  un- 
til the  dispersion  of  his  flock  at  that  place  in  the 
war.  He  was  advanced  to  the  priesthood  by 
Bishop  Green  and  returned  to  Pulaski,  reestab- 
lished the  Church  there  at  the  close  of  the  war 
and  remained  there  until  1869.  He  now  resides 
in  St.  Louis. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Harris  was  made  deacon  by 
Bishop  Green  in  1858,  and  advanced  to  the 
priesthood  by  Bishop  Otey  in  i860.  He  was 
rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  Nash- 
ville, from  1858  to  1862,  and  then  served  as 
Chaplain  in  the  Confederate  Army  for  three 
years.  He  was  Dean  of  St.  Mary's  Cathedral, 
Memphis,  for  ten  years  from  1871.  He  is  now 
resident  in  Mississippi. 

The  ordination  to  the  diaconate  of  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Vaulx  was  the  last  service  of  that  kind  per- 
formed by  Bishop  Otey.  Mr.  Vaulx  was  ad- 
vanced to  the  priesthood  by  Bishop  Green  in 
1862  and  served  the  Church  in  Tennessee  well 
and  faithfully  until  1876.  He  resides  at  present 
in  Arkansas.  The  Rev.  John  A.  Harrison,  the 
sixth  survivor  of  the  memorable  convention  of 
1865,  was  rector  of  St.  Luke's  Church,  Jackson, 
from  1856  to  1880  and  now  resides  in  Alabama. 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  201 

One  of  the  earliest  deaths  in  the  band  of  faith- 
ful clergy  which  had  stood  by  the  Church  in  the 
diocese  throughout  the  dark  days  of  1 861-1865 
was  that  of  the  Rev.  William  Fagg.  He  had 
been  received  from  the  Diocese  of  Ohio  in  1844 
and  was  engaged  for  a  while  as  a  private  tutor 
in  Bedford  County.  He  afterwards  succeeded 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Litton  in  the  rectorship  of  im- 
manuel  Church,  La  Grange,  and  lived  there  until 
the  opening  of  the  new  regime.  He  was  a 
"  pure  hearted  and  affectionate  pastor,  who 
made  full  proof  of  his  ministry,"  and  died  at  La 
Grange  in  1866,  "stretching  out  his  priestly 
hands  even  in  the  article  of  death,  while  his 
spiritual  children  knelt  weeping  around  his  bed- 
side, and  pronouncing  with  a  clear,  calm  voice, 
the  benediction  of  peace."* 

Another  was  that  of  the  Rev.  John  Alexander 
Wheelock,  whose  whole  ministerial  life,  since 
his  ordination  to  the  diaconate  in  1849,  with  the 
exception  of  two  brief  periods,  was  spent  in  the 
Diocese  of  Tennessee.  He  died  "  with  his  armor 
on,  preaching  Christ  one  day  and  the  next  with 
Christ  in  glory.  .  .  .  Ministering  to  his 
people  in  sickness  during  the  epidemic  of  1866, 
he  fell  one  of  its  noblest  victims.     ...     He 


Bishop  Quintard.     Conv.  Ad.,  1867. 


202  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   IN 

endured  many  hardships  and  much  privation, 
but  closed  his  life  as  rector  of  Grace  Church, 
Memphis,  when  there  was  every  prospect  of 
success  and  when  he  himself  was  laying  plans 
for  enlarged  usefulness."* 

in  like  manner  died  also  the  Rev.  Moses  L. 
Royce  and  the  Rev.  John  Miller  Schwrar  of  that 
earlier  group  of  devoted  priests,  and  the  Rev. 
Charles  Carroll  Parsons,  whose  ministry  belonged 
to  a  somewhat  later  period.  The  Rev.  Mr. 
Royce  had  served  the  Church  in  Tennessee  in  the 
ante  belliim  period  as  rector  of  St.  Paul's  Church, 
Franklin.  Later  he  became  rector  of  the  Church 
of  the  Holy  Trinity,  Nashville,  and  died  of 
cholera  in  the  latter  city,  in  1873.  "Not  count- 
ing his  life  dear  unto  himself  so  that  he  might 
finish  his  course  with  joy  .  .  .  he  visited  the 
sick  and  dying,  and  carried  the  consolations  of 
the  Gospel  to  the  abodes  of  want  and  misery, 
and  at  length  laid  down  his  life  in  his  Master's 
cause."  t 

The  Rev.  Mr,  Parsons  and  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Schwrar  were  victims  of  the  great  epidemic  of 
yellow  fever  in  1878.  The  former  died  in 
Memphis  on  the  17th  of  September;  the  latter  in 


*  Bishop  Quintard.     Conv.  Ad.,  1867. 
f  Bishop  Quintard.     Conv.  Ad.,  1874. 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  20} 

Somerville  on  the  nth  of  October.  Mr.  Parsons 
was  a  graduate  of  West  Point  and  had  served 
with  great  bravery  and  some  distinction  in  the 
Federal  Army  throughout  the  war.  He  was 
made  deacon  in  1871  and  advanced  to  the  priest- 
hood by  Bishop  Quintard  the  following  year. 
He  was  rector  of  St.  Lazarus'  Church,  and  or- 
ganized the  Church  of  the  Good  Shepherd, 
Memphis,  "Disciplined  by  military  education 
and  army  life  to  be  a  faithful  soldier  of  Jesus 
Christ,  he  did  every  duty  well.  He  was  a  man 
so  genial  and  yet  so  firm,  so  loving  and  yet  so 
tender  that  he  won  all  hearts."*  He  was  but 
thirty-nine  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  his  death. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Schwrar  was  in  the  forty-third 
year  of  his  age.  Ordered  deacon  in  1862  and 
advanced  to  the  priesthood  in  1865  by  Bishop 
Green,  his  whole  life  in  the  ministry  was  given 
to  the  Diocese  of  Tennessee.  He  was  one  year 
rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Advent,  Nashville. 
The  rest  of  his  life  was  devoted  to  parishes  in 
Somerville  and  La  Grange  and  to  missionary 
work  in  the  vicinity  of  those  two  places. 
Tempting  offers  of  larger  and  more  important 
fields  he  steadily  refused.  For  years  he  was 
Secretary  of  the  Diocesan  Convention.     "  Ac- 


*  Bishop  Quintard.     Conv.  Ad.,  1879. 


204  HISTORY   OF  THE  CHURCH    IN 

curate,  exact  and  prompt,  his  journal  was  al- 
ways ready  for  the  press  when  the  convention 
adjourned."*  He  sacrificed  his  life  in  the  service 
of  others. 

The  Rev.  Richard  Hines,  D.  D.,  first  rector  of 
St.  Mary's  Church,  Memphis,  first  dean  of  the 
Cathedral,  and  for  a  number  of  years  Secretary 
of  the  Diocesan  Convention,  spent  the  closing 
years  of  his  life  in  a  neighboring  diocese  and 
died  in  1882.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Wheat  was  for  a 
while  rector  of  St.  Lazarus'  Church,  Memphis, 
and  then  removed  again  from  the  diocese.  He 
died  in  1887  being  eighty-seven  years  of  age  and 
having  spent  sixty-three  years  at  the  Church's 
Holy  Altar.  The  Rev.  David  Pise,  D.D.,  who 
presided  at  the  memorable  convention  of  1865, 
resigned  the  presidency  of  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee of  the  Diocese  and  removed  to  the 
Diocese  of  Indiana  in  February,  1868.  He  had 
been  in  orders  nearly  half  a  century  when  he 
died  in  August,  1894,  at  the  age  of  seventy-eight. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  James  Ridley,  the  Rev. 
Dr.  George  White  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas 
W.  Humes  died  in  the  diocese.  Dr.  Ridley 
was  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  an  alumnus  of 
the  University  of  North  Carolina  and  a  graduate 


*  Bishop  Quintard.     Conv.  Ad.,  1879. 


THE   DIOCESE   OF  TENNESSEE.  205 

in  medicine  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 
He  became  rector  of  Trinity  Church,  Clarksvilie, 
in  succession  to  Dr.  Pise,  in  1853.  I"  i860  he 
was  elected  President  of  the  University  of  East 
Tennessee  and  removed  to  Knoxville.  In  1862, 
the  University  was  closed  in  consequence  of  the 
war  and  Dr.  Ridley  left  the  diocese.  He  returned 
in  1867  and  was  for  a  while  rector  of  St. 
Thomas'  Church,  Somerville,  and  subsequently 
rector  of  Zion  Church,  Brownsville.  He  died  in 
Somerville,  in  March,  1878. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  White  was  rector  of  Calvary 
Church,  Memphis,  until  1883  when  he  was 
made  Rector  Emeritus.  He  was  for  many  years 
one  of  the  most  notable  citizens  of  Memphis, 
and  for  eight  years  Historiographer  of  the 
diocese.  He  died  in  1886  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
four. 

The  Rev.  Thomas  W.  Humes,  S.T.D.,  was 
elected  President  of  the  East  Tennessee  College, 
now  the  University  of  Tennessee,  and  remained 
in  that  office  until  1883.  He  died  in  1891.  He 
was  a  ripe  scholar,  a  learned  theologian,  earnest 
and  eager  for  the  cause  of  missions  to  the  last.* 

Of  those  who  have  taken  up  the  burden  of 
work  in  the  diocese  since  1865  and  who  have  de- 


Conv.  Journ.,  1892,  p.  64. 


206  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   IN 

parted  hence  in  the  Lord,  mention  may  be  made 
of  the  Rev.  Richard  N.  Newell.  D.D.,  LL.D.,  the 
Rev.  Telfair  Hodgson,  D.D.,  the  Rev.  George 
T.  Wilmer,  D.D.,  the  Rev.  Elisha  Spruille  Bur- 
ford,  the  Rev.  Henry  Ripley  Howard,  S.T.D., 
and  the  Rev.  Francis  A.  Shoup,  D.D. 

The  career  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Newell  was  a  not- 
able one.  He  was  born  in  London,  England,  in 
1797,  and  was  educated  at  St.  Edmund's  Roman 
Catholic  College,  Hertfordshire,  and  at  the  Sor- 
bonne,  France.  He  returned  to  England  in  182'^, 
was  appointed  Professor  in  St.  Edmund's  Col- 
lege, and  was  elected  President  of  that  college  in 
1833.  While  a  professor  in  St.  Edmund's  he 
was  admitted  to  the  priesthood.  He  remained 
in  the  presidency  of  the  college  until  1837,  when 
he  came  to  this  country.  Upon  the  promulga- 
tion of  the  Dogma  of  the  Immaculate  Conception 
in  1854  he  abandoned  the  Church  of  Rome  and 
entered  our  communion.  In  1872,  he  made  his 
submission  and  vow  of  conformity  to  the  con- 
stitution and  canons  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  United  States  and  was  restored  by 
Bishop  Quintard  to  the  priestly  office.  In  1874, 
he  took  charge  of  St.  John's  Church,  Ashwood, 
and  remained  rector  until  his  death  in  October, 
1889,  when  he  was  in  his  ninety-second  year. 
"  He  was  a  man  of  profound  learning,  a  rich  and 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  207 

mellowed  character,  of  large  and  profound  ex- 
perience."* 

Dr.  Hodgson  and  Dr.  Wilmer  served  the 
Church  in  Tennessee  chiefly  through  the 
University  of  the  South.  The  latter  was  Pro- 
fessor in  the  Theological  Department  for  many 
years  and  was  dimitted  to  South  Carolina  in 
1886.  He  died  there  in  1899  at  an  advanced 
age.  Dr.  Hodgson  was  Dean  of  the  Theological 
Department  after  1878  and  Vice-Chancellor  of 
the  University  after  1879.  He  died  in  189331 
the  early  age  of  fifty-three.  He  was  active  in 
matters  pertaining  to  the  diocese,  and  long  time 
held  the  office  of  Registrar. 

The  Rev.  E.  Spruille  Burford  came  to  the 
diocese  from  Louisiana  in  1887  and  succeeded 
the  Rev.  Davis  Sessums  as  rector  of  Calvary 
Church,  Memphis.  He  resigned  in  1891  and 
died  in  New  York  three  years  later.  "He  was  a 
man  of  great  singleness  and  sincerity  of  purpose, 
of  great  earnestness  and  devotion  ^of  life;  he 
was  instrumental  in  largely  increasing  the  list  of 
the  communicants  of  the  parish.  No  man  has 
ever  been  more  helpful  to  his  fellow  laborers 
than  was  Mr.  Burford."! 


*Journ.  Conv.,  1890,  pp.  41  and  67. 
f  Bishop  Quintard.     Conv.  Ad.,  189. 


208  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

The  Rev,  Dr.  Howard  came  to  Tennessee  in 
May,  1882,  and  took  charge  of  St.  Barnabas* 
Church,  TuUahoma,  and  continued  with  that 
parish  for  thirteen  years,  fulfilling  until  within 
a  few  days  of  his  death  his  office  of  priest.  As 
Dean  of  the  Convocation  of  Nashville  he  per- 
formed work,  the  reports  of  which  occupy  many 
pages  of  the  Diocesan  Journals  and  will  never  be 
forgotten  in  the  impress  it  has  left  upon  Middle 
Tennessee.  He  entered  into  rest  on  the  19th  of 
March,  1895. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Shoup  was  of  illustrious  career. 
He  was  a  native  of  Indiana  and  a  graduate  of 
West  Point.  He  served  five  years  as  an  artillery 
officer  in  Florida  and  subsequently  practiced  law. 
He  served  throughout  the  war  and  rose  to  the 
rank  of  Brigadier-General  in  the  Confederate 
Army.  While  thus  engaged  he  was  presented 
for  confirmation  by  Dr.  Quintard.  Bishop 
Quintard  directed  his  studies  for  the  ministry 
after  the  close  of  the  war.  He  was  ordained  in 
Mississippi.  He  served  the  Church  in  the 
Diocese  of  Tennessee  as  rector  of  St.  Luke's 
Church,  Jackson,  and  subsequently  of  the  Church 
of  the  Advent,  Nashville.  He  represented  the 
Diocese  at  the  General  Convention  in  1895.  He 
was  long  time  Diocesan  Secretary,  and  on  one 
occasion  in  the  absence  of  the  Bishop,  presided 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  209 

over  the  Convention.  He  further  served  the 
Church  as  Professor  at  the  University  of  the 
South  and  at  one  time  as  Principal  of  the  Col- 
umbia Institute.     He  died  in  1896. 

Of  those  who  have  left  the  diocese  and  are 
still  laboring  for  the  Church  of  Christ  in  other 
fields  after  long  years  of  faithful  service  here, 
the  names  of  the  Rt.  Rev.  Davis  Sessums,  D.D=, 
the  Rev.  Charles  Mcllvaine  Gray,  the  Rev.  Isaac 
N.  Marks,  the  Rev.  Edward  Bradley,  the  Rev. 
G.  W.  Dumbell,  the  Rev.  William  Graham, 
D.D.,  the  Rev.  James  R.  Winchester,  D.D.,  the 
Rev.  George  Frederic  Degen,  and  the  Rev. 
Joseph  H.  Blacklock  stand  high. 

The  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Sessums  was  a  graduate  of 
the  University  of  the  South,  was  first  the  assist- 
ant and  then  the  rector  of  Calvary  Church, 
Memphis,  from  1883  to  1887.  He  was  subse- 
quently made  Bishop  of  Louisiana,  being  one  of 
six  Bishops  whom  Tennessee  has  given  to  the 
Church.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Gray,  a  native  of  Ten- 
nessee and  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  the 
South,  was  made  deacon  by  Bishop  Quintard  in 
1872  and  advanced  to  the  priesthood  by  the 
same  prelate  in  1874.  He  served  the  parish  of 
St.  Luke's,  Cleveland,  from  1874  to  1882  and  St. 
Paul's  Church,  Franklin,  and  Grace  Mission, 
Spring  Hill,  from  1882  to  1895.  He  now  resides 
in  Southern  Florida. 


210  HISTORY    OF   THE   CHURCH   IN 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Bradley  was  a  business  man 
with  a  son  in  the  ministry  of  the  Church  when 
he  was  ordained  to  the  diaconate  by  Bishop 
Quintard  in  1869,  He  was  advanced  to  the  priest- 
hood a  year  later.  He  served  the  Church  in  St. 
Paul's,  Franklin,  and  subsequently  in  the  Church 
of  the  Advent,  Nashville,  until  1875,  and  is  now 
resident  in  Ohio.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Marks  was  re- 
ceived from  the  Diocese  of  Louisiana  in  1883, 
and  was  rector  of  St.  Luke's  Church,  Jackson, 
for  eight  years.  He  now  resides  in  Wisconsin. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Dumbell  was  rector  of  St.  Luke's 
Church,  Jackson,  and  subsequently  of  St.  Paul's 
Church,  Chattanooga,  and  altogether  served  the 
Church  in  Tennessee  from  1881  to  1892. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Graham  came  to  the  diocese  a 
deacon,  and  was  admitted  to  the  priesthood  by 
Bishop  Quintard  on  Trinity  Sunday,  1869.  He 
became  the  rector  of  Christ  Church.  Nashville, 
and  began  the  building  enterprises  which  have 
distinguished  that  parish  of  late  years.  He  re- 
signed the  parish  in  1889,  and  was  for  a  time 
rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Epiphany,  Knoxville. 
He  is  now  resident  in  his  native  Scotland.  The 
Rev.  Dr.  Winchester  succeeded  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Graham  at  Christ  Church,  Nashville,  in  1889,  and 
completed  the  building  of  that  church.  During 
a  rectorate,  extending  over  nine  years,  he  baptized 


THE    DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  2  I  I 

four  hundred  and  forty-seven  persons  and  pre- 
sented three  hundred  and  thirty-four  for  confir- 
mation. He  resigned  this  parish  to  accept  impor- 
tant parochial  work  in  St.  Louis. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Degen  succeeded  Dr.  Gray  as 
rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Advent,  Nashville, 
and  resigned  that  parish  in  1897.  He  was 
eminent  in  the  councils  of  the  Church  as  member 
of  the  Standing  Committee.  He  is  now  engaged 
in  parochial  and  educational  work  in  the  Diocese 
of  Maine.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Blacklock  came  to  the 
diocese  as  the  teacher  in  the  Arnold  School  at 
Rugby  Colony  in  East  Tennessee.  His  mission- 
ary work  in  Rugby  was  of  such  a  character  as 
to  commend  him  for  the  sacred  ministry,  and  he 
was  ordained  deacon  and  priest  by  Bishop  Quin- 
tard.  He  served  with  fidelity  as  rector  of  Christ 
Church,  South  Pittsburg;  as  rector  of  St.  Luke's, 
Cleveland;  and  as  Dean  of  the  Convocation  of 
Knoxville.     He  is  now  resident  in  Alabama. 

The  Rev.  George  Beckett,  D.D.,  came  to  the 
diocese  in  1866  from  Kentucky,  and  is  still  can- 
onically  resident  in  Tennessee,  though  actually 
resident  in  New  York  City.  He  succeeded  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Pise  as  Principal  of  Columbia  Institute, 
and  was  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  in 
charge  of  that  institution,  raising  it  to  the  very 


212  HISTORY   OF  THE  CHURCH   IN 

front  rank  of  Southern  schools.  For  many  years 
he  added  to  his  duties  the  rectorship  of  St.  Peter's 
Church,  Columbia. 

There  are  still  at  work  in  Tennessee  the  Rev. 
George  Patterson,  D.D.,  rector  of  Grace  Church, 
Memphis,  since  1885;  the  Rev.  William  Mont- 
rose Pettis,  D.D.,  rector  of  Trinity  Church,  Clarks- 
ville,  from  1889  to  1892,  and  since  then  rector  of 
St.  Paul's  Church,  Chattanooga;  the  Rev.  Fred- 
erick P.  Davenport,  S.  T.D.,  missionary  at  various 
points  in  Tennessee  from  1876  to  1881,  and 
rector  of  Calvary  Church,  Memphis,  since  1891; 
the  Rev.  Thomas  Ferdinand  Martin,  rector  of  St. 
Ann's  Church,  Nashville,  since  1879;  and  the 
Rev.  Joseph  E,  Martin,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  rector  of  St. 
Luke's  Church,  Jackson,  since  1893,  who  by 
long  rectorates  and  by  distinguished  services  as 
Deans  of  Convocations,  in  Diocesan  Conven- 
tions, on  Standing  Committee  and  in  the  General 
Convention  are  now  setting  the  Church  in  the 
Diocese  of  Tennessee  far  forward  in  her  career. 

Of  men  of  note  in  the  history  of  the  Confed- 
eracy, an  unusual  number  settled  in  Tennessee 
after  the  war  and  took  part  in  the  affairs  of  the 
Church.  The  Honorable  Jefferson  Davis,  during 
his  residence  in  Memphis,  was  vestryman  in  St. 
Lazarus'  Church  and  represented  the  parish  in 
successiveDiocesan  Conventions.  General  Gideon 


THE   DIOCESE    OF   TENNESSEE.  2I3 

J.  Pillow,  Lieutenant-General  Richard  S.  Ewell 
and  Major  Gustavus  Adolphus  Henry  were  like- 
wise prominent  in  Church  matters.  General 
Josiah  Gorgas  was  one  of  the  early  teachers  at 
the  University  of  the  South.  General  Edmund 
Kirby  Smith  represented  the  Church  of  the  Holy 
Trinity,  Nashville,  in  the  Diocesan  Convention 
of  1872,  and  soon  afterwards  became  a  Professor 
in  the  University  of  the  South.  He  was  a  devout 
Churchman  to  the  end  of  his  life  in  1894. 

Perhaps  the  Honorable  Jacob  Thompson  was 
more  prominent  in  his  deeds  for  the  Church  be- 
cause of  the  abundance  of  his  opportunity. 
After  a  long  and  distinguished  public  career  he 
came  to  reside  in  Memphis,  and  was  many  years 
a  vestryman  in  Calvary  Church,  a  delegate  to 
successive  Diocesan  Conventions,  a  deputy  to 
the  General  Convention  and  a  member  of  the 
Standing  Committee.  He  gave  the  greater  part 
of  the  money  with  which  Thompson  Hall  at 
Sewanee  was  built.     His  death  occurred  in  1884. 


214  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

PREPARING   FOR   A    NEW   EPOCH. 

The  subjects  most  persistently  brought  to  the 
attention  of  the  diocese  through  the  annual  con- 
ventions during  the  years  from  1865  to  1893  were 
the  division  of  the  diocese,  the  establishment  of 
the  See  system  and  the  obtainment  of  two  or 
three  Bishops  to  do  the  work  all  that  time  de- 
volving upon  one.  These  subjects  were  brought 
up  through  references  in  the  Bishop's  convention 
addresses,  through  the  reports  of  committees 
and  through  resolutions  until  the  division  of  the 
Diocese  of  Tennessee  must  have  seemed  the 
chief  reason  for  that  diocese's  existence;  and  if 
all  that  was  said  and  done  (no,  not  done)  in 
regard  thereto  were  collected  and  edited,  it  would 
prove  a  valuable  and  voluminous  contribution  to 
the  general  literature  of  the  See  Episcopate  and 
the  Division  of  Dioceses.  Scarcely  a  convention 
was  held,  from  the  thirty-fourth  to  the  sixty- 
first,  that  did  not  either  appoint  a  committee  to 
consider  and  report  upon  one  phase  or  another 
of  these  subjects,  or  listen  to  reports  made  by 
committees  previously  appointed  for  that  purpose. 
And,  judging  from  the  records,  no  triennial  con- 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  21 5 

vention  of  the  Church,  meeting  during  this 
period  was  regarded  as  fully  organized  and  ready 
for  business  until  it  had  received  (and  refused  to 
grant)  an  application  for  the  division  of  the 
Diocese  of  Tennessee.* 

Throughout  all  this  agitation  of  the  subjects 
there  was  manifested  a  loyal  adherence  upon  the 
part  of  the  diocese  to  the  scheme  suggested  by 
the  Rev.  Dr.  White  in  the  convention  of  1865. 
In  the  ultimate  triumph  of  that  scheme  the  con- 
ventions seemed  never  to  have  lost  faith,  how- 
ever dilatory  they  might  be  in  taking  steps  to 
make  the  scheme   immediately  effective.     Nor 


*  An  incident  somewhat  related  to  these  subjects,  though 
not  sufficiently  to  be  made  a  portion  of  the  text  of  this  chapter, 
may  be  here  noted.  In  his  address  before  the  Diocesan  Con- 
vention of  1877,  Bishop  Quintard  related  his  efforts  to  bring 
the  domain  of  the  University  of  the  South,  so  far  as  was  prac- 
ticable, into  closer  and  more  intimate  relations  to  the  several 
dioceses  engaged  in  the  work  of  the  University,  and  to  divest 
the  University  of  any  appearance  of  being  in  a  special  way  con- 
nected with  the  Diocese  of  Tennessee  or  under  the  supervision 
of  the  Bishop  of  Tennessee.  The  Board  of  Trustees  of  the 
University  had  in  1876,  with  that  end  in  view,  "Resolved, 
That  the  Bishops  concur  in  the  advisability  of  placing,  so  far  as 
may  be  practicable,  the  University  domain  under  the  united 
jurisdiction  of  all  Bishops  who  are  members  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees";  and  Bishop  Quintard  referred  this  matter  to  the 
convention.  The  convention,  however,  adopted  the  report 
of  the  Committee  of  Reference  on  the  subject,  to  the  effect  that 
no  precedent  nor  authority  could  be  found  in  canon  law,  ancient 
or  modern,  for  giving,  delegating  or  conferring  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction  upon  more  than  one  Bishop  as  Diocesan— v.  Journ. 
Conv.,  1877,  pp.  32  and  53. 


2l6  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

did  the  Bishop  appear  to  lose  faith  throughout 
the  first  twenty  years  of  his  Episcopate.  In 
1886,  however,  it  was  evident  that  his  patience 
had  been  tried  to  the  uttermost  by  the  careless- 
ness of  the  parishes  in  providing  for  the  support 
of  one  Bishop  while  so  much  was  being  said 
about  securing  the  services  of  two  or  three.  His 
health  had  broken  under  the  strain  imposed  upon 
him  of  doing  the  work  of  three  men  and  the 
discouragement  at  the  little  progress  the  Church 
had  made  in  Tennessee.  He  was  too  ill  to  attend 
the  convention  meeting  that  year  in  St.  Ann's 
Church,  Nashville,  but  he  sent  an  address  in 
which  he  earnestly  urged  the  convention  to  ap- 
point a  committee  charged  with  the  duty  of 
making  another  effort  to  divide  the  diocese  or  to 
provide  for  the  election  of  an  assistant  Bishop. 

At  the  convention  of  1887  resolutions  were 
passed  with  the  Bishop's  full  approval  looking  to 
the  election  of  an  assistant  Bishop.  But  the 
convention  adjourned  without  accomplishing 
anything  further.  In  1888  the  Bishop,  wearied 
with  this  dilatoriness,  decided  not  to  ask  for  an 
assistant,  but  hoped  "that  when  there  should 
be  adequate  strength,  earnestness  and  liberal 
giving  in  the  diocese,  the  resolution  of  1865  might 
be  carried  out." 

Successive  conventions  refused  to  consent  to 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  217 

the  election  of  an  assistant  Bishop,  and  a 
heroic  effort  was  made  to  secure  an  endowment 
for  the  Episcopate  that  would  enable  the  plans 
for  division  to  be  carried  out.  The  Rev.  Dr. 
Gray  was  appointed  a  Commissioner  of  Endow- 
ment of  the  Episcopate,  and  at  the  invitation  of 
the  convention  of  1890  spent  much  time  that 
year  in  a  personal  canvass  of  the  diocese.  The 
times  were  financially  "hard."  Nevertheless, 
Dr.  Gray  was  able  to  report  to  the  convention  of 
1891  the  collection  of  forty  thousand  dollars  in 
money  and  notes,  divided  as  follows:  For  West 
Tennessee,  sixteen  thousand  dollars;  for  Middle 
Tennessee,  fifteen  thousand  dollars;  and  for  East 
Tennessee,  nine  thousand  dollars. 

On  the  strength  of  this  report  an  additional 
attempt  was  made  to  secure  from  the  General 
Convention  of  1892  the  division  of  the  diocese, 
the  erection  of  a  new  diocese  to  comprise  West 
Tennessee,  and  the  consent  of  the  General  Con- 
vention to  elect  an  assistant  for  Bishop  Quintard, 
should  he  decide,  after  the  erection  of  the  new 
diocese,  to  remain  in  the  diocese  which  would 
then  include  Middle  and  East  Tennessee. 

The  General  Convention  of  1892  declined  to 
grant  the  application  for  the  division.  There 
were  but  forty  places  in  the  diocese  requiring 
the   personal   visits  of  the   Bishop;   the   whole 


21 8  HISTORY    OF   THE    CHURCH    IN 

number  of  communicants  reported  was  at  that 
time  only  about  five  thousand,  and  of  this  num- 
ber only  nineteen  hundred  were  in  the  proposed 
new  diocese.  There  were  only  five  priests  can- 
onically  settled  in  West  Tennessee,  and  the  pro- 
vision suggested  for  the  support  of  the  Episcopate 
in  two  dioceses  appeared  insufficient.  These 
were  among  the  reasons  given  why  the  General 
Convention  acted  unfavorably  upon  the  applica- 
tion. "If  the  strength  of  the  present  Bishop 
was  not  sufficient  for  the  whole  diocese,  as  then 
existing,"  it  was  suggested,  "the  proper  remedy 
would  be  found  in  some  other  way,"  namely, 
in  the  election  of  an  assistant  Bishop.  At  the 
time  of  this  General  Convention,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Gray  was  elected  Bishop  of  Southern  Florida, 
and  his  consecration  before  the  end  of  that  year 
removed  from  the  Diocese  of  Tennessee  one  of 
its  most  valuable  priests  and  an  invaluable  friend 
of  the  scheme  for  the  division  of  the  diocese  and 
of  the  endowment  of  the  Episcopate.  It  seemed, 
therefore,  at  the  adjournment  of  the  General 
Convention  of  1892  that  the  Diocese  of  Tennes- 
see had  reached  an  unique  position  in  physics,  its 
absolute  indivisibility  having  been  officially  de- 
creed. The  minds  of  those  who  were  interested 
in  the  progress  of  thje  Church  in  Tennessee 
began  to  look  at  once  in  another  direction  for  aid. 


THE    DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  219 

The  sixty-third  annual  convention  of  the 
diocese  had  been  appointed  to  meet  in  St.  John's 
Church,  Knoxville,  on  the  third  Wednesday  in 
May,  1893.  But  so  important  did  the  Bishop 
consider  the  matter  of  securing  additional  Epis- 
copal supervision  for  his  diocese,  which  was 
destined  to  come  before  that  convention,  and  so 
anxious  was  he  to  secure  a  good  attendance 
thereat,  that  he  exercised  his  canonical  privilege 
and  advanced  the  time  of  meeting  to  the  19th  of 
April,  and  changed  the  place  to  St.  Ann's  Church, 
Nashville,  as  more  centrally  situated  and  more 
easily  reached  from  all  parts  of  the  diocese  than 
Knoxville.  In  his  address  to  the  convention  the 
Bishop  set  forth  the  full  history  of  the  latest 
effort  to  divide  the  diocese,  and  urged  upon  the 
convention,  as  the  most  important  business  before 
it,  the  securing  of  increased  Episcopal  supervision 
for  the  Church  in  Tennessee. 

A  committee  appointed  to  consider  this  subject 
reported  a  resolution  to  proceed  to  the  election  of 
an  assistant  Bishop,  and  to  pledge  the  conven- 
tion to  work  before  the  General  Convention,  to 
meet  in  1895,  for  the  division  of  the  diocese 
along  the  lines  proposed  in  1892.  The  retention 
of  the  sums  and  pledges  contributed  for  the 
endowment  of  the  Episcopate  was  made  a  mat- 
ter of  adjustment  between  the  trustees  of  the 


220  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

Endowment  Fund  and  the  individual  contributors, 
it  being  implied  in  some  cases  that  the  contribu- 
tions were  made  conditional  upon  the  division 
of  the  diocese.  In  consequence  of  this  action 
the  Endowment  Fund  quickly  diminished  to 
less  than  twelve  thousand  dollars  of  available 
funds. 

On  the  second  day  of  the  session,  being 
Thursday  the  20th  of  April,  at  half-past  four  in 
the  afternoon,  the  convention  proceeded  to  the 
election  of  an  assistant  Bishop.*  The  Rev.  Dr. 
Davenport  nominated  for  that  office  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Frank  Gailor,  S.T.D.,  Vice-Chancellor 
of  the  University  of  the  South,  and  then  Secre- 
tary of  the  Convention.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Shoup 
seconded  the  nomination,  tellers  were  appointed 
to  receive  the  ballots,  and  the  Bishop  bid  the 
convention  to  prayers.  The  result  of  the  ballot 
was  the  unanimous  election  by  both  clergy  and 
laity  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Gailor  for  assistant  Bishop 
of  Tennessee.  The  formal  announcement  was 
made  of  his  election  and  the  convention  pro- 
ceeded with  its  usual  business. 

The  election  of  Dr.  Gailor  was  as  acceptable 
to  the  Church  at  large  as  it  was  gratifying  to  the 


*  The  title  of  Assistant  Bishop  was  changed  to  Bishop  Co- 
adjutor by  canon  adopted  at  the  General  Convention  of  1895. 


BISHOP   GAIl.OR 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  221 

Bishop  and  to  the  entire  Diocese  of  Tennessee. 
No  other  name  had  been  mentioned  in  connec- 
tion with  the  office.  Dr.  Gailor  was  born  in 
Jackson,  Mississippi,  in  1856  and  grew  to  early 
manhood  in  Memphis,  where  his  acquaintance 
with  Bishop  Quintard  began  in  his  boyhood. 
He  took  his  Bachelor's  and  Master's  degrees  at 
Racine  and  entered  the  General  Theological  Sem- 
inary, New  York,  where  he  graduated  in  1879 
with  the  degree  of  S.T.B.  He  was  ordained 
deacon  that  year  and  advanced  to  the  priesthood 
the  year  following  by  Bishop  Quintard.  From 
1879  to  1882  he  was  in  charge  of  the  Church  of 
the  Messiah,  Pulaski.  He  was  then  for  eight 
years  Chaplain  and  Professor  of  Ecclesiastical 
History  in  the  University  of  the  South.  In  1890 
he  was  elected  Vice-Chancellor. 

By  this  time  his  name  was  known  all  over  the 
American  Church.  He  received  votes  for  the 
Episcopate  in  Michigan,  California  and  in  other 
dioceses.  In  1892  he  was  elected  Bishop  of 
Georgia  but  declined.  He  likewise  declined 
elections  to  the  rectorate  of  parishes  in  Chicago 
and  New  Orleans.  Columbia  College  and  the 
General  Theological  Seminary  conferred  the  de- 
gree of  S.T.D.  upon  him  in  1890  and  Trinity 
College,  Hartford,  gave  him  the  degree  of  D.D. 
in    1892.     With  the  affairs  of   the    Diocese   of 


222  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

Tennessee  he  was  familiar  from  occupying  the 
office  of  Secretary  of  the  Convention  from  1882 
to  the  time  of  the  announcement  of  his  election 
to  the  Assistant  Bishopric,  when  he  resigned. 
He  represented  the  diocese  as  Clerical  Deputy  in 
the  General  Conventions  of  1886,  1889  and  1892. 
Dr.  Gailor  was  consecrated  in  St.  Augustine's 
Chapel,  Sewanee,  on  St.  James'  Day,  the  25th  of 
July,  1893.  Bishop  Quintard  was  the  conse- 
crator,  and  was  assisted  by  Bishops  Dudley,  of 
Kentucky;  Perry,  of  Iowa;  Seymour,  of  Spring- 
field; Watson,  of  East  Carolina;  Jackson,  of 
Alabama,  (Assistant);  Nelson,  of  Georgia;  Hale, 
of  "  Cairo,"  and  Kinsolving,  of  Texas. 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  22? 

CHAPTER   XIX. 

THE  CLOSE  OF  AN  ERA  AND  A  RETROSPECT. 

In  full  accord  with  the  wishes  of  Bishop 
Quintard,  the  Bishop  Coadjutor  took  up  his  resi- 
dence in  Memphis  and  exercised  full  Episcopal 
jurisdiction  in  West  and  East  Tennessee,  extend- 
ing it  over  Middle  Tennessee  whenever  the  elder 
Bishop  desired.  He  early  projected  the  erection 
of  a  new  and  stately  cathedral  which  would  be  a 
distinct  advance  towards  the  establishment  of 
the  See  system,  and  that  project  is  in  process  of 
realization. 

Bishop  Quintard  was  permitted  to  review  the 
work  accomplished  by  him  upon  the  thirtieth 
anniversary  of  his  consecration,  and  there  was 
much  in  the  retrospect  that  was  gratifying.  He 
presided  over  the  sixty-fifth  annual  convention 
of  the  diocese,  which  was  held  in  Sewanee,  in 
May,  1897.  It  was  the  last  convention  he  at- 
tended. 

At  Darien,  Georgia,  on  the  i  ^th  of  February, 
1898,  in  the  seventy-fifth  year  of  his  age,  and  in 
the  thirty-fourth  year  of  his  Episcopate,  his 
earthly  career  closed  so  quietly  and  peacefully 
that  the  precise  hour  of  his  departure  will  never 


224  HISTORY   OF   THE    CHURCH    IN 

be  known.  Four  days  later,  in  the  cemetery  at 
Sewanee,  in  tiie  presence  of  the  Bishops  of 
Georgia  and  South  Carolina,  a  number  of  the 
clergy  of  the  diocese  and  a  large  concourse  of 
sorrowing  friends,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Gailor,  long 
time  his  friend,  his  coadjutor  and  now  his  suc- 
cessor, committed  his  body  to  the  earth. 

And  with  this  solemn  incident,  recalling  a  like 
occasion  nearly  a  third  of  a  century  earlier,  and 
marking  the  close  of  a  second  era  in  the  progress 
of  the  Church  in  Tennessee,  the  historiographer 
finds  his  opportunity  to  bring  his  present  work 
to  a  close.  As  with  every  attempt  to  write  the 
annals  of  a  work  that  is  still  in  progress,  it  must 
fail  of  a  climax  of  glorious  achievement  that 
would  be  the  delight  of  a  literary  artist  and  his 
readers.  It  may  even  seem  in  the  retrospect  dis- 
appointing if  the  attempt  be  made  to  compare 
results  with  the  religious  denominations  in  this 
State  with  whom  it  has  been  impossible  to  com- 
pete upon  equal  terms  for  mere  numerical 
strength.  But  this  has  never  been  the  intention 
nor  the  expectation  of  the  Church  in  Tennessee, 
and  upon  comparing  the  condition  of  the  Diocese 
of  Tennessee  with  that  of  neighboring  dioceses 
of  nearly  equal  size  and  population  it  will  be 
found  that  the  former  has  reason  to  be  encour- 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   TENNESSEE.  22 5 

aged  with  the  success  to  which  she  has  attained. 
We  have  already  seen  some  of  the  hindrances 
to  the  Church's  growth  in  Tennessee.  When 
these  are  taken  into  consideration,  it  is  a  great 
achievement  for  the  Church  to  have  stood  her 
ground  and  not  to  have  suffered  total  defeat. 
And  we  can  readily  see  how  a  different  course 
of  events  many  years  ago  might  have  bettered 
her  present  condition.  Possibly  could  the  Church- 
men in  Tennessee  have  waited  patiently  without 
organizing  as  a  diocese  until  the  dawn  of  the  era 
of  missionary  Bishops,  she  might  have  been  a 
participant  in  the  largess  of  the  Eastern  and 
Northern  Churchmen  to  whom  missionary  dis- 
tricts and  missionary  Bishops  have  been  very 
attractive,  and  Tennessee  might  then  have  shared 
with  the  Western  missionary  districts  their  rapid 
progress.  But  no  one  could  foresee  in  1829 
or  in  1833  what  course  the  Church  was  going  to 
pursue  in  regard  to  missionary  enterprises,  and 
the  action  of  the  Churchmen  of  Tennessee  in 
those  years  was  in  accordance  with  the  best 
wisdom  of  that  time.  And  so  the  first  Bishop 
of  Tennessee  toiled  in  poverty  for  thirty  years 
and  was  gratified  to  see  some  of  the  fruits  of 
his  labor. 

But  the  war  swept  away,  to  a  large  extent, 
the    results  of  the    labors   of   the    ante  bellum 


226  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

Church.  The  diocesan  organization  in  1865 
confronted  changed  conditions,  which  imposed 
hindrances  upon  the  Church's  growth  scarcely 
less  than  the  former  regime.  The  Church  had 
suffered  through  the  war,  because  the  Church- 
men of  the  South  had  been  of  that  wealthy 
planter  class  whose  wealth  had  been  swept 
away.  Those  who  succeeded  to  their  wealth 
and  social  position  were  of  a  class  inimical  to 
the  Church  in  the  former  regime,  and  they  stead- 
fastly maintained  their  prejudices  under  the 
changed  conditions.  It  was  like  the  popular 
feeling  at  the  earlier  period  when  the  Church 
was  regarded  as  a  phase  of  the  tyrannical  gov- 
ernment of  England  from  which  America  had 
by  war  freed  herself. 

In  both  periods  the  Tennesseeans  have  mani- 
fested a  curious  phase  of  conservatism,  which 
rendered  them  impervious  to  the  appeals  of  the 
"Church  Idea."  They  do  not  like  to  change 
their  religion.  Scarcely  knowing  why,  they  yet 
prefer  to  remain  in  the  religion  which  first  se- 
cured their  attention,  which  was  that  which 
manifested  itself  in  the  early  days  of  the  Nine- 
teenth Century.  To  them  that  is  "  the  old  time 
religion,"  and  it  is  "good  enough  for  them." 
They  are  disposed  to  regard  that  which  is  of 
Apostolic  origin  as  of  a  more  recent  development. 


THE    DIOCESE    OF   TENNESSEE.  227 

Probably  could  the  plans  of  the  leaders  in 
diocesan  work  in  the  later  period  for  the  division 
of  the  diocese  and  the  establishment  of  the  See 
system,  have  prevailed,  the  results  would  have 
been  far  difTerent.  But  the  second  Bishop  of 
Tennessee  was  compelled  to  struggle  on  in  the 
face  of  the  obstacles  to  the  Church's  progress 
imposed  by  the  changed  conditions  after  the 
war,  and  with  inadequate  assistance  from  the 
general  missionary  funds  of  the  Church,  in  a 
field  far  too  large  for  the  care  of  one  Bishop. 
Again  and  again  the  Church  refused  to  divide 
this  field  in  order  that  the  Church's  agencies 
might  work  to  better  advantage  therein. 

In  a  curious  way  the  Church  in  Tennessee  has 
been  deprived  of  the  results  of  her  labors.  Al- 
though Bishop  Quintard  confirmed  more  than 
twelve  thousand  persons,  the  list  of  communi- 
cants has  never  attained  to  half  that  number. 
Other  fields  have  reaped  the  results  of  the  faith- 
ful and  patient  labors  of  those  who  have  striven 
for  the  upbuilding  of  the  Church  in  Tennessee. 
There  are  colonies  of  Tennesseeans  in  Texas, 
Missouri  and  California  which  have  added  to  the 
Church's  strength  in  those  dioceses.  Be  it  so! 
It  is  with  gratitude  to  Almighty  God  that  we 
may  contemplate  this  evidence  that  the  labors  of 
the  Church  in  Tennessee  have  not  been  in  vain, 


228  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    IN 

despite  the  somewhat  discouraging  deductions 
sometimes  made  from  our  own  diocesan 
statistics. 

In  the  post  bellum  period  of  the  history  of 
Tennessee  the  tendency  of  the  population  has 
been  towards  the  cities,  and  the  towns  and  vil- 
lages have  been  left  stationary  or  even  going 
down.  All  this  has  a  very  decided  effect  upon 
the  progress  of  the  Church  in  the  small  towns 
and  villages.  But  in  the  aggressive  work  being 
done  by  the  Church  in  Chattanooga,  Nashville, 
Knoxville,  Jackson  and  Memphis — growing 
cities — evidence  is  furnished  that  she  is  keeping 
pace  with  the  growth  of  the  cities.  The  admis- 
sion of  the  parish  of  St.  Luke's,  Idlewild, 
Memphis,  to  union  with  the  diocese  at  the  con- 
vention of  1898,  may  be  taken  as  an  earnest  of 
what  may  be  early  expected  in  the  new  epoch 
which  has  just  opened. 

It  behooves  us  to  speak  and  to  think  with  all 
humility  of  the  spiritual  growth  to  which  the 
Church  has  attained  in  Tennessee,  and  as  to 
what  has  been  the  measure  of  her  influence  upon 
the  State  and  upon  society.  But  it  is  certain  that 
she  has  been  true  to  the  Church's  conception 
of  what  the  Church  is,  and  under  her  noble 
Bishops  and  the  noble  bands  of  clergy  who  have 
aided  them,  she  has  held  fast  to  that  which  has 


THE    DIOCESE    OF   TENNESSEE.  229 

been  committed  to  her  and  has  striven  with  both 
hands  earnestly  to  do  her  Lord's  work  in  the 
way  of  His  appointment. 


NDEX 


Advent,  Church  of  the,  Nashville,  112,  113,137,  153,  199,203, 

208,  210,  211. 
Adventists,  35. 
African  Methodist  Church,  181. 

"      Zion,  182. 
Alabama,  53,82,  114,  135,  141-144,  200,  211,  222. 
Alamance,  Battle  of,  11. 

Allison,  "  Dropped  Stitches  in  History  of  Tennessee,  "cited,  179. 
Alston,  Mr.  J.  J.,  103,  104. 

"       Rev.  Philip  W.  W.,  86,  105,  130-132. 
Anderson,  George,  68. 

"         John,  68,  78,  104,  133. 
Antebellum  Bishops,  i6o. 

"         Church,  225,  226. 
"  Period,  178,  195,  202. 

Archdeacons  for  Colored  Work,  187. 
Architecture,  Church,  173-176. 
Arkansas,  141,  144,  200. 
Arlington,  196. 
Armfield,  John,  125. 
Arminianism,  32. 
Arnold  School,  Rugby,  197,  211. 
Ashwood,  99,  100,  104,  148,  154,  155,  178,  199,  206. 
Assistant  Bishop,  216-220,  222. 
Associated  Reformed  Synod  of  the  South,  29. 
Athens,  106,  107,  114,  117,  190. 
Atkinson,  Bishop,  52,  158. 
Bacon,  Leonard  Wolsey,  cited,  25,  26,  28,  34. 


11.  INDEX. 

Baptisms,  191,  193,  21 1. 
Baptists,  23,  29,  30,  32,  181. 

"       Colored,  29,  181. 
Bean,  Captain  William,  10. 
Beckett,  Rev.  Dr.  George,  211,  212. 
Bedford  County,  201. 

"       University,  197. 
Beechcroft  School,  197. 
Bishop,  Coadjutor,  220,  223. 
Blacklock,  Rev.  Joseph  H.,  166,  209,  211. 
Blount  County,  17,  114. 
Board  of  Missions,  164. 

Bolivar,  19,  84,  loi,  102,  127,  1S4,  187,  189,  197,  199 
Boone's  Creek,  1 1 . 
Bradley  County,  1 14. 

"      Rev.  Edward,  209,  210. 
Bragg,  General  Braxton,  54,  1415. 

"      Thomas,  54. 
Brinkley,  Colonel  Robert,  111. 
Brown,  Ex-Governor  John  C,  175. 
Brown's  Settlement,  1 1 . 
Brownsville,  18,  20,  105,  126,  128,  205. 
Buntyn,  195. 

Burford,  Rev.  Elisha  Spruille,  206,  207. 
Burlison,   187. 
California,  221,  227. 

Calvary  Church,  Memphis,  71,  104,  105,  note  iio,  111,  127, 
130-132,  134,  13=;,  137,  151,  153,  159,  163,  184,  205,  207, 
209,  212,  213. 
Calvinism,  32. 
Camp-meetings,  25,  26. 
Campbell,  Alexander,  33. 
Canfield,  Mrs.  Martha  A.,  186. 


INDEX.  111. 

Canfield  Orphan  Asylum,  186. 
Carroll,  Dr.  H.  K.,  cited,  35,  36,  181. 
Carter's  Valley,  1 1 . 
Caswell,  Rev.  Robert  C,  187. 
Cathedral  System,  163,  164. 
Catholic  Practices,  112. 

"        Principles,  157,  168,  169,  170,  183-187. 
Character  of  Early  Settlers,  24. 
"         of  Field,  loi. 

"        of  Population  of  State,  33,  88,  loi,  226. 
Characteristics  of  Diocese,  89,  90,  224-229. 
Charleston,  1 14. 
Chattanooga,  ii6,  125,  146,  150,  175,  176,  190,  196,210,  212, 

226. 
Cherokee  Indians,  10. 
Chickasaw  Indians,  18. 
Chilhowee,  1 14. 

Chilton,  Rev.  John,  69,  70,  78,  103,  los,  126,  128. 
Cholera,  Memphis,  79,  126. 

"       Nashville,  79,  131. 
Christ  Church,  Johnson  City,  196. 

"  "        Nashville,  61,  64,  65,  94,  96,  108,  M  1,  13s,  ISO, 

152,  153,  176,  210. 
Christ  Church,  Rugby,  195. 

"  "        South  Pittsburg,  196,  211. 

"  Christians,"  33,  34. 
Christian  Education,  120,  121,  123. 

"        Union,  35. 
Church  in  Confederate  States,  144,  156. 

"       of  England,  30,  31,  39,  44,  170. 

"       Membership  in  Tennessee,  35. 

"      Orphans' Home,  172. 

"       Principles,  40,  42,  47,  48,  note  ni. 


IV.  INDEX. 

Church  Property,  192. 

"      What  is  the,  37,  38. 
Churchmanship,  46,  166-171. 
Claggett,  Bishop,  46,  62. 
Claiborne,  Thomas,  59,  65. 
Clarksville,  17,  69,   70,   77,  84,  94,  97,  98,  note  98,  qq,  150, 

15",  153,  "7^  198,  205,  212. 
Clergy,  Statistics  of,  77,  89,  92,  191,  198. 

"       Support  of,  92,  192. 
Cleveland,  114,  166,  175,  190,  195,  197,  209,  211. 
Clinch,  10. 

Cobbs,  Bishop,  52,  114,  129,  142,  144,  184. 
Coke,  Dr.,  44,  note  31. 
Collierville,  196. 

Collins,  Rev.  Charles  Francis,  135,  155,  199. 
Colored  Ministers,   187. 

"       Work,  187,  188. 
Columbia,  58,  61,  63,  65,  78,  84,  86,  92,  94-97,  99,  101,  108, 

I  ID,  121,  124,  127,  129,  131, 134,  135,  note  146,  150,  154, 

155,  187,  196,  209,  211,  212. 
Columbia  Female  Institute,  96,  123,  129,  150,  196,  209,  211. 
Commissioner  of  Endowment  of  Episcopate,  217. 
Communicants,  Statistics  of,  89,  90,  97,   100,  101,  105,  no, 

1 1 1,  141,  189,  191,  196,  217,  218. 
Confederate  Army,  54,  200,  208. 

"  Navy,  note  144. 

"  States,  54,  128,  141,  143. 

Conference,  Methodist,  31 

"  Colored,  182. 

Confirmations,  Statistics  of,  66,  68,  69,  89,  90,  108,  111,  112, 

130,  189,  191,  193,  196,  227. 
Congregationalists,  35. 
Connecticut,  42,  47,  136. 


INDEX. 

Consecration  of  Bishop  Seabury,  42. 

"  of  Bishops  White  and  Provoost,  42,  43. 

"  of  Bishop  Madison,  43. 

"  of  Bishop  Ciaggett,  46. 

"  of  Bishop  Hobart,  47. 

"  of  Bishop  Ravenscroft,  so. 

"  of  Bishop  Otey,  80. 

"  of  Bishop  Quintard,  158. 

"  of  Bishop  Gailor,  222. 

"  of  Churches,  67,  100. 

Conservatism,  40,  46,  226. 
Controversies,  Religious,  32,  33,  85-87. 
Conventions,  Diocesan,  84,  107,  132,  208,  209,  21;,  214. 

"  First,  64,  65. 

"  Third,  68,  120. 

"  Fourth,  69. 

Fifth,  71. 

"  Sixth,  130. 

"  Seventh,  102,  130. 

"  Eighth,  102,  122. 

"  Eleventh,  86. 

"  Eighteenth,  106. 

"  Nineteenth,  131. 

"  Twenty-third,  85. 

"  Twenty-sixth,  136. 

"  Twenty-eighth,  88. 

"  Twenty-ninth,  i  35. 

"  Thirty-third,  138-141. 

Thirty-fourth,  189. 

"  Thirty-fifth,  173. 

"  Thirty-seventh,  185. 

"  Fortieth,  213. 

"  Forty-second,  174. 


VI.  INDEX. 

Conventions,  Fifty-third,  190. 

"  Fifty -fourtii,  216. 

"  Fifty-fifth,  170. 

"  Fifty-eighth,  217. 

"  Sixty -third,  219,  220. 

"  Sixty-fifth,  223. 

"  Special  (1865),  153-155.  '98,  i99,  204,  215. 

"  State,  139. 

Constance,  Sister,  172. 
Convocations,  164-166,  212. 
Corporate  Name  of  Diocese,  117. 
Councils  of  Church  in  Confederate  States,  143. 
Court  Houses  Used  for  Church  Services,  84,  86. 
Covington,  103,  195. 
Craighead,  James  B.,  149. 
Craigmiles,  Colonel  John  H.,  175,  197. 
Crane,  Rev.  William  Croes,  98,  132,  135. 
Cressey,  Rev.  E.  Harrison,  98,  100. 
Cumberland  Compact  of  Government,  18. 

"  Country,  23,  25. 

"  Mountains,  10. 

"  Presbyterians,  29,  181  (Colored,  29,  181). 

"  River,  16,  113. 

"  Settlements,  17. 

"  Iron  Works,  97,  98. 

"  Furnace,  195,  197. 

Davidson  County,  16,  17,  96. 
Davis,  Bishop,  52,  143. 
"      Hon.  Jefferson,  212. 
"      Rev.  John,  58,  59,  61,  62,  65,  67,  126. 
Davenport,  Rev.  Dr.  Frederick  P.,  212,  220. 
Daily  Celebrations,  194. 
Debts,  Church,   116,  192. 


INDEX.  VU. 

Degen,  Rev.  George  Frederic,  209,  211. 
Depositions  from  Ministry,  93,  98,  126. 
Doane,  Bishop,  (of  New  Jersey,)  80,  85. 

•'  "       (of  Albany,)  note  80. 

Doctrine,  Discipline  and  Worship,  43,  46,  6},  183,  188. 
Dow,  Lorenzo,  27. 
Dickinson,  William  G.,  78. 
Difficulties  of  Church  Work,  91,  225,  228. 
Diggon,  James,  59. 
Diocesan  Book  Society,  91. 

"       Missionary  Society,  162. 
"       Training  School,  159,  160. 
Diocese,  Word  Supplants  "State,"  75. 

"        Use  of  Term,  73. 

"       of  North  Carolina  Organized,  49. 

"       of  Tennessee  Organized,  65. 
Disciples,  34. 

Discipline,  Clerical,  64,  93,  126,  129. 
Division  of  Diocese,  155,  214-219,  227. 
Divisions  of  State,  20. 
Drummond,  Rev.  John  H.,  103. 
Duck  River,  99. 
Ducktown,  I  14. 
Dudley,  Bishop,  177,  222. 
Dumbell,  Rev.  G.  W.,  209,  210. 
Dunkards,  35. 
Eastern  Diocese,  73. 
East  Nashville,  1 37. 
"     Tennessee,   18,  88,   106,   108-11 1,    114,    117,    139,    190, 

217,  223. 
Ecclesiastical  Trial,  93,  98. 
Edgefield,    113,  137,  154. 
Educational  Character  of  Diocese,  118-12S,  196. 


Vlll.  INDEX. 

Educational  Committee,  137. 

"  Enterprises,  96,  118-125,  12Q,  i'52. 

Education  in  Tennessee,  23. 

"         Character  of  that  Imparted  by  Bishop  Otey,  i  iQ. 
Election  of  Bishops,  74,  77. 

"       of  Bishop  Otey,  78. 

"       of  Bishop  Quintard,  154,  155. 

"      of  Bishop  Gailor,  220. 

"      of  Bishop  Ravenscroft,  49. 
Elizabethton,  196. 

Elliott,  Bishop,  52,  142-144,  160,  184. 
Emancipation,  179,  180. 
Embury,  Philip,  30. 
Endowment  Fund,  217,  219,  220. 
England,  81,  128,  206,  226. 

"        Church  of,  38,  40,  42,  45,  51,  81,  128. 
"  English  Church  in  Nineteenth  Century,"'  cited,  46. 
Epidemics,  77,  89,  90,  172,  194,  201,  202. 
Epiphany,  Church  of  the,  Knoxville,  195,  210. 
Episcopacy,  41,  86. 

"  Episcopal  Churches,  Case  of,  Considered,"  42. 
"         Residence,  164. 
"  Visitations,  150-152,  159. 

Episcopate,  40,  43. 

"         Attempts  to  Secure,  for  America,  39. 
"         Bishop  Quintard's,  189-191. 
Erastianism,  74,  142. 
Ewell,  Lt.  General  Richard  S.,  213. 
Fagg,  Rev.  William,  104,  201. 
Fairbanks,  Major  George  R.,  159. 
Fairmount  School,  197. 
Fayette  County,  18,  71,  103,  126,  127,  140. 
Fayetteville,  195-197. 


INDEX.  IX. 

Federal  Army,  138,  203. 

"      Government,  157. 
Financial  Depression,  90. 
Fisk  University,  187,  188. 
Florida,  52,82,  114,  141,  i43- 

"       Southern,  199,  209,  218. 
Fogg,  Francis  Briniey,  59,  65,  78,  121,  124,  125,  133,  149. 

"      Godfrey  M.,  59,  65,  78,  133. 
Forbes,  Rev.  Mr.,  106. 
Franklin,  54,  58-62,  65,  66,  68,  69,  78,  79,  84,  94,  146,  154, 

202,  209,  210. 
Franklin,  State  of,  15,  16. 
Fraser,  Thomas,  Will  of,  note,  98,  99. 
Freedmen,  180. 
French  Broad,  10. 
French  Lick,  16. 
Friends,  Society  of,  34. 
Froude,  Quoted,  21. 
Fulford,  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Francis,  158. 
Gailor,  Bishop,  220-222,  224. 

"       Memorial  Sermon,  cited,  145,  161,  169,  170. 
Gallatin,  187,  196. 

Gay,  Rev.  John  Lenoir,  110,  114,  115. 
General  Convention,  43,  46,  66,  74,  76,  120,    130-132,  155, 

156,  158,  199,  208,  212,  213,  215,  217,  218,  220,  222. 
Georgia,  39,  40,  52,  79,  82,  141,  142,  221-224. 
Gibson  County,  18. 
Giles  County,  102. 
Gloster,  Arthur  B.,  68,  104. 

"       Mrs.  Mary,  68,  70,  71,  104. 
Good  Shepherd,  Church  of,  Memphis,  195,  20'5. 
Gorgas,  General  Josiah,  203. 
Grace  Church,  Chattanooga,  175,  196. 


X  INDEX. 

Grace  Church,  Loudon,  1 14. 

"  "        Memphis,  110,  151,  153,  194,  202,  212. 

"  "        Rossview,  196. 

"  "        Spring  Hill,  209. 

Graham,  Rev.  Dr.  William,  209,  210. 
Gray,   Rt.   Rev.   Dr.  William    Crane,  117,  135,  145,  199,  211, 

217,  218. 
Gray,  Rev   Charles  Mdlvaine,  209. 
Great  Awakening,  25. 
Green,  Bishop,  49,  50,  55,  57,  78,  92,  149,  200,  203. 

"       Memoir  of  Bishop  Otey,  cited,  31,  169,  note  1 16. 
Greene  County,  14,  17. 
Greeneville,  14,  109,  190. 
Gregg,  Bishop,  note  196. 
Hannington  Chapel,  188. 
Hardeman  County,  19,  71. 

"         William,  65. 
Hardin  County,  18. 
Harlow,  Rev.  William  D.,  113. 
Harpeth  Academy,  56. 
Harriman,  196. 
Harris,  Adlai  O.,  121,  123,  i  54. 

"       Rev.  Dr.  George  Carroll,  112,  145,  199,  200. 
Harrison,  Rev.  John  A.,  135,  140,  155,  163,  165,  200. 
Hatchie,  19. 

Hawkes,  Bishop,  1 11,  145,  151. 
Hawkins  County,  77. 
Haywood  County,  71,  103. 
Henderson  County,  18. 
Henry  County,  18. 

"      Major  Gustavus  Adolphus,  99,  213. 
Hickman  County,  18. 
Hill,  Mr.  H.  R.  W.,  note  94. 


INDEX.  XI. 

Hines,   Rev.   Dr.    Richard,    iii,  140,  143,  147,  154,  163,  165, 

204. 
"  History  of  American  Christianity,"  cited,  25^  26,  28,  34. 
"        of  Methodism  in  Tennessee,"  cited,  28,  30-33. 
"        of  Tennessee,"  cited,  13,  23,  24,  28. 
Hobart,  Bishop,  47,  49,  75,  85. 
Hodgson,  Rev.  Dr.  Telfair,  206,  207. 
Hoffman  Hall,  187,  188. 

"       Rev.  Dr.  Charles  F.,  188. 
Holston,  10,  II,  16,  23, 
"         Association,  23. 
Holy  Comforter,  Mission,  Columbia,  187. 
"     Communion,  194. 
"     Days,  Observance  of,  194. 

"     Trinity  Church,  Nashville,   112,  137,  146,  150,  153,  200, 
202,  213. 
Hopkins,  Bishop,  149,  158. 
Howard,  Rev.  Dr.  Henry  Ripley,  165,  206,  208. 
Howell,  Rev.  Mr.,  61,  64,  126. 
Hughes,  Thomas,  M.P.,  note  195. 
Humes,  Andrew,  115. 

"       Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  W.,  107-109,  204,  205. 
Hunt,  Rev.  George  Henry,  199,  200. 
Immanuel  Church,  La  Grange,  104,  127,  146,  201. 
"         Memphis,   187. 
"        Ripley,  1 17. 
Incorporation  of  Diocese^  1 1 7. 
Ingraham,  Rev.  J.  P.  T.,  111. 
Inscription  on  Bishop  Otey's  Tomb,  148. 
Ives,  Bishop,  69,  167. 
Jackson,  Mississippi,  132,  221. 

"        Tennessee,  17,  20,  70,  84,  105,  106,  126,   128,   133, 
135,  154,  165,  187,  200,  208,  210,  212,  228. 


Xll.  INDEX. 

James,  Rev.  George  N.,  165. 

Jansen,  Rev.  Lewis,  102,  10s,  106. 

Jefferson  County,  17. 

"Jerks,"  the,  27,  28. 

Jews,  35. 

Johns,  Bishop,  144. 

Johnson  City,  196. 

Jonesboro,  14. 

Keene  County,  16. 

Kemper,  Bishop,  88,  92. 

Kentucky,  16,  24,  25,  26,  50,  66,  76,  82,  133,  149,  177,  211, 

222. 
King's  Mountain,  Battle  of,  14. 
Kirby-Smith,  General  Edmund,  213. 
Knight,  Rev.  Dr.,  note  196. 
Knox  County,  17. 
Knoxville,  15,  54,  65,  69,  84,  91,  106-108,  115,  136,  150,  154, 

155,  165,  166,   176,   190,   195,   198,   199,  205,  210,  211, 

219,  228. 
La  Grange,   18,    19,  68,  70,  78,  84,   104,  127,  133,  146,  201, 

203. 
Latter-Day  Saints,  35. 
Lauderdale  County,  71. 
Lawson,  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  B.,  1 17. 
Lea,  Prof.  Albert  Miller,  107. 
Leacock,  Rev.  Hamble  James,  94. 

"        Rev.  Dr.  William  Thomas,  129. 
Lebanon,  190. 
Lewisburg,  196. 

Litton,  Rev.  Samuel  George,  69,  70,  78,86,  102,  104,  126,201. 
London,  Bishop  of,  39,  43,  129. 

"        See  of,  40. 
Lost  Creek,  34. 


INDEX.  XUl. 

Loudon,   1 14,  190. 

"        County,  1 14. 

"        Fort,  9,  115. 
Louisiana,  52,  121,   122,   124,   127,   129,   152,   141,   142,  207, 

209,  210. 
Louisville,  1 14. 
Lutherans,  35. 
Madison,  Bishop,  43,  44. 

"        College,  123. 

"        County,  18,  19,  71,  125. 
Maine,  79,  158,  211. 
Maney,  Thomas,  65,  78. 
Marks,  Rev.  Isaac  N.,  209,  210. 
Martin,  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  E.,  166,  212. 

"        Rev.  Thomas  Ferdinand,  166,  212. 
Maryland,  30,  40,  46,  133. 
Mason,  187,  195. 
Matthews  Family,  54. 

"         Rev.  Mr.,  102. 

"         Tobias,  51. 
Maury  County,  95,  100,  104. 
"      Matthew  Fontaine,  56. 
McClure,  Rev.  Edward,  i  10. 

McConnell,  "  History  of  Episcopal  Church,"  cited,  note  144. 
McCready,  James,  25. 
McCullough,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  W.,  106,  13  j. 
McFerrin,  cited,  28,  30-33. 
McCee,  William  and  John,  25. 
McGhee,  Colonel  John,  115. 
Mcllvaine,  Bishop,  95,  132. 
McLeod,  Donald,  124. 
McMinn  County,  1 14. 
McNairy  County,  18. 


XIV.  INDEX. 

Meade,  Bishop,  67,  i^i. 

Memphis,  19,  70,  71,  79,  91,  i  lo,  1 1 1,  126,  127,  130-132,  134- 

138,  147-149,  '5'.  i53-'55,  'S9,  >63-i65,  172,  176,  184, 

185,    187,   194,   195,   197,  200,  202-205,  207,  209,  212, 

213,  223,  228. 
Menick,  Dr.,  59. 
Mennonites,  35. 
Mercer,  Dr.,  96. 

"       Hall,  96,  123. 
Merrick,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  Austin,  159. 
Messiah,  Church  of  the,  Pulaski,  17s,  195,  221. 
Methodism,  American,  Origin  and  Growth  of,  30. 
Methodists,  23,  25,  29,  32,  33,  84,  181,  182. 

"  Colored,  32,  182. 

"  Preachers,  44,  128. 

Middle  Tennessee,  58,  59,  68,  97,  104,  190,  191,  208,  217,  223. 
Miles,  Mr.  J.  W.,  115. 
Milwood  Academy,  96. 
Missionary  Bishops,  95,  128,  225. 

"  Committee,  137. 

"  Enterprises,  99,  162,  225. 

"         Society,  Diocesan,  91  ;  Foreign  and  Domestic,  59, 68. 
Missions,  83,  195. 

"        Board  of,  164. 
"        General  Board  of  Domestic,  1 1 1. 
Mississippi,  49,  82,  98,  121,  122,  127,  132,  141,  149,  200,  208, 

21 1. 
Missouri,  149,  151,  199,  227. 
Moore,  Bishop,  49,  55,  129. 
Moral  Conditions,  23-25. 
Morris,  Rev.  Thomas  A.,  116,  117,  159. 
Morristown,  196. 
Monroe  County,  1  14. 
Monteagle,  197. 


INDEX.  XV. 

Montgomery  County,  17. 

Mount  Pleasant,  197. 

Mul'.er,  Rev.  Dr.  Albert  Arney,  77,  78,  97,  98. 

Murfreesboro  (Murfreesborough),  117,  181,  190,  196. 

Nashborough,  16. 

Nashville,   16,  59-61,  63-70,  78,  79,  84,  91,94,  96,  108,  ni- 

"4,  127,  131,  '35,  '37,  '46,  149,  150,  '52-i5'5,  165,  166, 

'7^,   '77,    '87,    196,  199,  200,  202,  208,   210-213,   216, 

219,  228. 
Natchez,  122. 

Trail,  24. 
National  Church,  75,  142,  156. 
Negroes,  35,  36. 

"        Relation  to  Church,  177-187. 
"        Slaves,  100,  104. 
Newell,  Rev.  Dr.  Richard  N.,  206,  207. 
New  England,  25,  39,  40,  42. 
New  Jersey,  39,  40,  79,  98,  158. 
New  Lights,  33. 
New  London,  53. 
New  York,  30,   39,  40,  42,  47,  68,    114,  128,  136,  147,  171, 

172,  207,  211. 
Nollichucky,  10,  11. 
Normal  School,  122. 

Norment,  Rev.  John  H.,  69,  77,  100,  106. 
North  Carolina,  10-16,  39,  40,  49,  50,  52-54,  61,  68,  69,  114, 

130,  i33-'35,  '57,  '58,  167,  179,  204. 
Northern  States,  138,  181. 
Ohio,  45,  76,  95,  97,  104,  132,  158,  201,  210. 
Onderdonk,  Bishop,  (New  York,)  80,  85,  note  129,  130,  158, 

167. 
Onderdonk,  Bishop,  (Pennsylvania,)  80,  85. 
Open  Letter,  Bishop  Otey's,  147. 


XVI.  INDEX. 

Ordinance  of  Secession,  138. 

Ordinations,  55,  61,  69,  70,  84,  92,  1 14,  126-137,  192,  200. 

Otey,  Bishop,  51-148,  159,  184,  196,  200,  225. 

"      Colonel  John,  51. 

"     Isaac,  51,  55. 

"     Memorial  Church,  Sewanee,  195. 

"     School  for  Boys,  197. 
Overton,  John  H.,  D.D.,  Reference  to,  note  46. 
Oxford  Movement,  76,  166-171. 
Page,  Rev.  Dr.  David  C,  105,  110,  132,  133. 
Paris,  70,  190. 

Parish  Schools  and  Libraries,  193. 
Parochial  School,  97. 
Parsons,  Rev.  Charles  Carroll,  202,  203. 
Patterson,  Rev.  Dr.  George,  165,  212. 
Peaks  of  Otter,  52. 
Penitentiary,  Church  Work  in,  1 12. 
Pennsylvania,  30,  40,  42,  58,  144,  158. 
Pettis,  Rev.  Dr.  William  Montrose,  212, 
Pettus,  Sir  John,  51. 
Phelan,  cited,  13,  23,  24,  28. 
Philadelphia,  66,  79,  80,  128,  158. 
Pillow,  General  Gideon  J.,  213. 
Piper,  James  H.,  54,  61,  65. 
Pise,  Rev.   Dr.  David,  96,  125,  135,  143,  148,  154,  155,  204, 

205,  211. 
Plymouth  Brethren,  35. 
Polk,   Bishop,   52,  95,  96,  100,  114,  115,  121,  123,  124,  128, 

142,  143,  159,  160,  184- 
Polk  County,  1 14. 

Popular  Characteristics  and  Prejudices,  44-46,  57,  58,  101,  228. 
Population,  Cumberland  Settlements,  17. 

"  Memphis,  19,  20,  1 10. 


INDEX.  XVll. 

Population,  Tennessee,  17,  3'>. 

"  Religious  Character  of,  28. 

Post  bellum  Period,  228. 
Poston,  John  H.,  note  99. 
Prayer  for  the  President,  140,  141. 
Prayer  Book,  43,  54,  55,  57,  66,  6-j,  88,  143,  147,  167. 
Preaching,  88. 

"         of  the  Church,  85. 
Presbyterians,  22,  25,  28-30,  32,  33,  61,  84,  86. 

"  Ministry,  107,  129. 

Primitive  Baptists,  30. 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  34,  37,  43. 

"  "  "        in  the  Confederate  States,  143. 

Provoost,  Bishop,  42,  47. 
Pulaski,  84,  102,  175,  195,  200,  221. 
Quintard,  Bishop,  91,  113,  136-229. 

"  Quoted  and  cited,  129,  130,201-205. 

Radford,  Mr.  P.  M.,  cited,  6},  109,  115. 
Randolph,  19,  71,  84,  86,  103,  104,  130,  134,  136,  146. 
Ravenscroft,   Bishop,  49,  50,  55,  57,  61,  63,  64,  66,  69,  85, 

167. 
Ravenscroft  Chapel,  103,  104,  note  146,  178. 

"  College,  124. 

Redeemer,  Memorial  Church  of,  Shelbyville,  1 17,  195. 
Reed,  Rev.  Edvi^ard,   107. 
Reformed  Church,  31;. 
Reformers,  33. 
Religious  Conditions,  23-25,  35,  ^6. 

"       Controversies,  32,  33. 

"       Forces  of  the  United  States,  cited,  35,  36. 
Renfroe  Settlement,  1 7. 
Republican  Methodists,  57. 
Revival,  Great,  of  1800,  25-28,  32-34,  45,  56,  58. 


XVlll.  INDEX. 

Richmond,  Theodore,  175. 

Ridley,  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  James,  98,  149,  204,  205. 

Ringgold,  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel,  165,  198,  199. 

Ripley,  1 17. 

Ritualism,  83,  1 15,  167. 

Riverside,  1 1 4-1 16. 

Robertson  County,  17. 

"        James,   12,  16. 
Rogers,  Rev.  James  W.,  95,  103,  194. 
Rogersville,  1 1 . 
Romanism,  169. 
Rome,  Church  of,  35,  39,  206. 
Rossview,  196. 
Royce,  Rev.  Moses  L.,  202. 
Rugby,  195,  197,  211. 

"       Colony,  note  195. 
Rural  Deans,  164. 
Rutledge,  Bishop,  52,  143. 

Major  H.  F.  M.,  50. 
St.  Alban's  Mission,  195. 
St.  Andrew's  Church,  Fayette  County,  103,  146. 

"  "        Murfreesborough,  117. 

St.  Ann's  Church,  Nashville,  114,  137,  212,  216,  219. 
St.  Augustine's  Mission,  Nashville,  187. 
St.  Barnabas'  Church,  Tullahoma,  176,  195,  208. 
St.  Cyprian's  Mission,  Gallatin,  187. 
St.  Gregory's  Chapel,  105. 
St.  James' Church,  Bolivar,  102,  127,  154,  199. 

"  "        Greeneville,  109. 

St.  James'  Hall,  Bolivar,  197. 

"       Mission,  Cumberland  Furnace,  195. 
St.  John's  Church,  Ashwood,  99,  100,  104,  148,  154,  155,  178, 

199,  206. 


INDEX.  XIX. 

St.  John's  Church,  Knoxville,  65,  106-108,  115,  136,  154,  176, 

198,  219. 
St.  John's  Mission,  Buntyn,  195. 
St.  Katharine's  Hall,  Bolivar,  197. 
St.  Lazarus'  Church,  Memphis,  194,  203,  204,  212. 
St.  Luke's  Church,  Cleveland,  175,  195,  209,  211. 

"  "        Idlewild  (Memphis),  228. 

Jackson,  70,  128,  133,  135,  153,  165,  200, 

208,  210,  212. 

St.  Mark's  Church,  Williamsport,  99,  100,  129,  154,  199. 

St.  Mary's  Church  (Cathedral),  Memphis,   iii,  147,  151,  153, 

154,  163,  164,  200,  204,  223. 
St.  Mary's  School,  Memphis,  172,  197. 
St.  Mary  Magdalene's  Church,  Fayetteville,  195,  196. 

"      Sisters  of,  171,  197. 
St.  Matthew's  Church,  Covington,  103,  195. 
St.  Paul's  Church,  Athens,  1 1 7. 

"  "        Chattanooga,  116,  146,  176,  210,  212. 

"  "        Franklin,  62,    65,   94,   96,    146,   154,  202, 

209,  210. 

St.  Paul's  Church,  Randolph,  75,  103,  104,  136,  146. 
"  "        On-the-Mountain,  Sewanee,  187,  195. 

"  "        Mission,  Mason,  187. 

"  "         Mission,  Nashville,  iii,  112,  187. 

St.  Peter's  Church,  Columbia,  62,  6s,  68,  94-96,  108,  121,  127, 

note  146,  154,  155,  212. 
St.  Peter's  Church,  Nashville,  196. 
St.  Philip's  Mission,  Bolivar,  187. 
St.  Stephen's  Church,  Edgefield,  113,  154. 
"  "        Pulaski,  102. 

"  Mission,  Burlison,  187. 

St.  Thomas'  Church,  Somerville,  102,  138,  140,  205. 
"  Mission,  )ackson,  187. 


XX.  INDEX. 

Sandels,  Rev.  John,  132. 
Saunders,  Rev.  W.  P.,  95. 
Schetky,  Rev.  Mr.,  1 10. 
Schismatics,  33. 
Schools,  23,  197. 

Schv^rar,  Rev.  John  Miller,  202-204. 
Scotch-Irish,  21,  22,  30,49. 
Scottish  Church  and  Bishops,  42,  43. 
Seabury,  Bishop,  42-44,  46,  47. 
Secession,  139,  141. 
Sects,  Multiplication  of,  }},  34. 
See  Episcopate,  155,  214,  223. 
Sermons,  85-87. 

"        Alston's,  note  131. 
Sessums,  Bishop,  207,  209. 
Sevier  County,  1 7. 

"     John,  12. 
Sewanee,  117,  159,  161,   187,  190,   195,   196,  213,  note  215, 

222-224. 
Shaking  Quakers,  33-35. 
Shelby  County,  18,  71. 

"       Dr.  John,  59,  113,  121,  133. 
Shelbyville,  1  17,  195. 
Sherwell,  Rev.  Samuel,  95. 
Shoup,  Rev.  Dr.  Francis  A.,  206,  208,  209,  220. 
Sisterhoods,  171,  172. 
Skipwith,  George  C,  78. 
Slavery,  177,  note  98,  99,  157. 
Smith,  Bishop,  92,  1 49-151. 

"       Rev.  Franklin  C,  129,  note  129,  130. 

"       Mr.  P.  N.,  65. 
Society  for  Propagation  of  Gospel,  39. 
Somerville,   18,  92,  102,  138-140,  148,  203,  205, 


INDEX.  XXI. 

South  Carolina,  39,  40,  47,  52,  79,  145. 
"  "         Nashville,  1 1 1. 

"  "  Pittsburgh,  196,  211. 

Southern  Bishops,  156,  157,  184. 

"         Dioceses,  142. 

"        States,  138,  141,  156,  181. 
Special  Conventions,  153-155. 
Spiritual  Conditions,  192,  193,  228. 
Spiritualists,  35. 

Spoliation  of  Church  Property,  146. 
Spring  Hill,  196,  197,  209. 
Stanwix,  Treaty  of  Fort,  10,  12. 
"  State  "  Churches,   75. 
Statistics,  182,  227. 
Steel,  Rev.  William,  103. 
Stephens,  Rev.  Abednego,  127. 

"  Rev.  Dr.  Daniel,  62,  6-},  65,  78,  loi,  127. 

Stevens,  Bishop,  144,  158. 
Stewart  County,  98. 
Stipends  of  Clergy,  119,  192. 
Strowbridge,  Robert,  30. 
Sullivan  County,  1 7. 
Sumner  County,  17,  59. 
Tappan,  General  B.  S.,  65,  78,  121. 
Tellico,  1 14. 

"      River,  115. 
Tennessee  County,  17. 
Territory  Southwest  of  the  Ohio,  15,  16. 
Texas,  141,  157,  222,  227. 
Thecla,  Sister,  172. 
Thompson  Hall,  213. 

"         Hon.  Jacob,  213. 
Tipton  County,  19,  103,  104,  137,  154,  178. 


XXll.  INDEX. 

Tomes,  Rev.  Charles,  107,  108,  109,  iii,  131,  137,  iso. 

Tractarian  Movement,  75. 

Tractarianism,  167. 

Tracy  City,  196. 

Training  School,  Church,  140. 

Trinity  Church,  Clarkville,  69,   77,  94,  97,  98,  note  98,  99, 

150,  153,  176,  198,  205,  212. 
Trinity  Church,  Mason,  195. 

"  "         Tipton  County,  103,  154. 

"  "         Winchester,  116,  146,  159. 

Tullahoma,  176,  195,  208. 
Unitarians,  35. 
United  Presbyterians,  29. 
Universalists,  35. 
University,  East  Tennessee,  205. 

"  Nashville,  127,  133. 

"  North  Carolina,  53,  130,  204. 

"  of  the  South,    117,    120,    123-125,    159-162,    190, 

196,  207,  209,  213,  note  215,  220,  221. 
University,  Tennessee,  20,  205. 

"  Place,  159. 

Vail,  Bishop,  145. 
Value  of  Church  Property,  192. 
Vaulx,  Rev.  James  Junius,  140,  200. 
Vermont,  129,  149,  158. 
Virginia,  10-12,  30,  39,  40,  43,  49-52,  54,  55,  67,  79,  97,  '29. 

145. 
Voight,  Rev.  Lucius  N.,  150. 
War,  Civil,  91,  132,  i33,  '45->52,  159,  160,  225,  226. 

"    Revolutionary,  14,  30,  39,  40,  44-46,  51. 
Warrenton,  North  Carolina,  54,  55. 
Washington  County,  13. 

"  District,  14,  17. 


INDEX.  XXlll. 

Watauga,  lo,  1 1,  14,  16. 

"         Association,  12,  13,  17. 
"         Settlements,  12. 
Watson,  Matthew,  59,  78. 
Weekly  Offertory,  97. 

Weller,  Rev.  Dr.  George,  67,  78,  96,  105,  121,  127,  130. 
Wesley,  Rev.  John,  30,  31,  44,  128, 
West,  Rev.  Thomas,  128. 
Western  Country,  50,  55. 

"        District,  18,  20,  24,  69,  71,  78,  103,  106,  165. 
West  Point,  95,  203,  208. 

"  Tennessee,  68,  78,   101,  117,  122,  126,  130,  151, 

199,  217,  218,  223. 
Wheat,  Rev.  Dr.  John  Thomas,  ^6,  97,  in,  124,  134,  135,  204. 
Wheelock,  Rev.  John  Alexander,  201,  202. 
White,  Bishop,  42,  44,  46,  80,  153. 

"       Rev.  George,  71,  72,  105,  152,  135,  155,  204,  205,  215. 
Whitehouse,  Bishop,  149,  152. 
Williamson  County,  55. 
Williamsport,  99,  129,  154,  199. 
Wilmer,  Bishop,  144,  145. 

"        Rev.  Dr.  George  T.,  206,  207. 
Wilson,  Colonel  George,  59,  65. 
Winchester,  116,  146,  159. 

"  Rev.  Dr.  James  R.,  209-21 1. 

Wormley,  John  C,  78. 
Worship,  43,  46. 

Wright,  Rev.  Thomas,  69-71,  77,  104,  126. 
Zion  Church,  Brownsville,  70,  105,  205. 


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